David Moyes has revealed that Sir Alex Ferguson phoned him twice in 2004 to push for Wayne Rooney’s transfer from Everton to Manchester United, after the former Everton manager first refused to sell the striker. Moyes said Ferguson asked to meet at the Haydock Thistle Hotel and made his interest plain: “I want Rooney.”
The timing matters because Rooney’s stock was soaring that summer. He had scored four goals in four games at Euro 2004 before breaking his foot against Portugal in the quarter-finals, and his form for England only intensified the fight for his signature. Rooney said Ferguson wanted to wait another year, but his tournament made the move happen sooner.
Moyes said he told Ferguson there was “no chance” of letting Rooney go and made clear he would not be sold to Chelsea or anyone else. But the story did not end there. Three or four weeks later, Ferguson called again and asked to meet at the same hotel because he still wanted Wayne and, as Moyes put it, things had moved on. That second call turned a firm refusal into a transfer that could no longer be kept at arm’s length.
Rooney later said Ferguson had wanted to wait a year, but his own performances at Euro 2004 changed the picture. He said the transfer became “inevitable” that summer once clubs started moving quickly to get ahead of one another. England’s exit on penalties to Portugal in the quarter-finals only sharpened the sense that Rooney’s next step would come immediately, not eventually.
The result was one of the defining moves of the Premier League era. Rooney spent 13 seasons at Old Trafford, scored 253 goals and made 143 assists for United, became the club’s record goalscorer and won 16 trophies, including five Premier League titles and the Champions League. The part still left hanging is the exact deal that finally satisfied Everton, even if Moyes’ account makes clear that Ferguson had to come back more than once before the sale became unavoidable.
