Wayne Rooney has given a candid account of raising four sons in football, and the picture of his sons’ progress at Manchester United looks very different from the one at Everton. Speaking on the Therapy Crouch podcast with Peter Crouch and Abbey Clancy, the former United captain discussed Kai, Klay, Kit and Cass, and how differently their academy paths have gone so far.
Sixteen-year-old Kai has earned a scholarship at Old Trafford and is already training with the under-18s, while thirteen-year-old Klay also remains on United’s books. Eight-year-old Cass, though, was recently released by Everton’s academy, a moment Rooney and his wife Coleen described in detail on the podcast.
Rooney made clear throughout that none of his boys should expect favours just because of who their father is, insisting any success has to be earned like anyone else’s.
Inside Coleen Rooney’s Heartbreaking Everton Phone Call
Coleen Rooney gave the fullest account of the day Cass learned his time at Everton was over. He had been part of the club’s under-sevens group, and families usually find out around that age whether their son will move up into the under-nines. Cass, a boyhood Evertonian with his own season ticket, was among those not kept on.
“The youngest one, he got let go. That was the hardest thing. The older two had been there and stayed there at United, Cass was at Everton. It was only under-sevens, and he is a massive Evertonian, so he’s got a season ticket, and he loves Everton. So, the fact that he was there was everything to him. We knew, because it was a big squad, and obviously, then going into the under-nines, you get signed then. We knew he wasn’t going to stay because he wasn’t one of the stronger ones there and the day came when we got the phone call. I phoned him [Wayne] and I was like, ‘You’re going to have to tell him,’ and then I had a moment before he [Wayne] came in and he [Cass] was on his own in the house. I was like, ‘Cass, I’ve had a call and you’re not going to be going into the next [year at Everton]’ and he threw his head into his hands and he just burst out crying. But an hour later? He forgot about it. He was fine. He still plays for his grassroots team and he was on the phone straight away to my mum and dad saying, ‘Everton have released me.'”
Comparing Kai Rooney’s Old Trafford Rise with Academy Statistics
Kai’s story sits at the opposite end of the same system. At sixteen, he has already earned a scholarship at United and trains regularly with the under-18s squad. He made his first appearance at Old Trafford itself in the FA Youth Cup against Derby County, a landmark moment for a boy who grew up watching his father captain the club. Klay, at thirteen, is also on United’s books and working his way through the same age groups.
That two of his sons are now part of Manchester United’s story matters to him, but he was adamant it should never come easily.
“What I don’t want is him to get a scholarship or get a contract because of me,” he said, insisting Kai’s place has to be earned on merit alone. Readers can revisit our comments on Kai’s scholarship progress from last month for more on how that news first broke.
Rooney added that he wants Kai to build something of his own rather than live in the shadow of comparisons with his father.
“Kai wants his own legacy, and I’ll be there to support him. I want it to be because of him in his own right. It’s something he’s wanted for a long time, so [I’ll] be proud, really proud of him to get a scholarship.”
The Broader Debate on Footballing Legacies and Patience
The wider point Rooney made to Cass, but one that applies to the whole family, was about patience rather than talent alone.
“If you think about, anything really, even in school, you have people in higher sets, that’s part of life isn’t it? In football, the amount of players we’ve played with [gestures to Crouch] who maybe don’t make it at Man United, Everton or Liverpool, but then they go and play [elsewhere], so there’s opportunity to have a career. And you forget, they’re so young. I said to him, ‘I didn’t join Everton’s academy until I was nine, so actually you’ve got loads of time. Enjoy playing football and if it comes, it comes.'”
It’s a view shaped by his own path through Everton’s academy and two decades at the top of the English game, and he applies much the same patience to his own club’s fortunes.
Rooney’s views on Premier League achievements this season carry a similar message: judgements made too early rarely hold up. The full detail of the podcast appearance, including Coleen’s account of the Everton phone call, was first reported by the Manchester Evening News.
