Wayne Rooney has fallen behind Phil Jones in the pecking order after breaching Manchester United's strict rules

Wayne Rooney has revealed that no-one was safe from Louis van Gaal's strict penalty rule at Manchester United.

Despite his obvious goalscoring talent, Rooney admitted he was not always Manchester United's go-to player for spot-kicks.

3

Speaking on a recent episode of The Stick to Football PodcastRooney joined Ian Wright, Roy Keane, Gary Neville and Jill Scott where they discussed pre-season tours abroad.

The 38-year-old was a regular penalty taker for the Red Devils during his time at Old Trafford, scoring 27 times from the spot.

However, a clash with notoriously strict former United manager Van Gaal soon changed his place in the pecking order.

“For forwards, if you're the one taking the penalty, if you miss, you're at the back of the queue,” he revealed.

“Even in pre-season, if you miss a penalty, you're put in seventh or eighth place on the list. In pre-season we had three penalties taken, I scored the first two.”

“The last game before… we played… Seville At Old Trafford, I hit the post. So, in the first game of the season, I was the eighth penalty taker.”

Not only was Rooney demoted down the list, but he also had an unexpected player take his place: one of the club's top defenders.

“Phil Jones I came into the game as a penalty taker when I and Robin Van Persie were there.”

Rooney was nothing short of a football prodigy during his time at Manchester United.

Joined from Everton after coming through the ranks of their youth academy before making his first-team debut at the age of 16 against Tottenham in August 2002.

3

3

His first Premier League goal came on 19 October, just five days before his 17th birthday, with a last-minute winner over Arsenal that has gone down in football history.

The goal crowned Rooney as the youngest goalscorer in Premier League history at the time.

As a result, it came as no surprise when Manchester United came knocking and he moved to Old Trafford in 2004.

Mr Alex Ferguson He was the right man to sign Rooney, but the deal was met with many doubts at the time.

However, he went on to enjoy 13 stellar years at Old Trafford, becoming a legend of the modern club.

He lifted five Premier League trophies, three League Cups, one FA Cup, one Champions League and one Europa League.

Rooney scored 253 goals in 559 appearances in all competitions, writing his name into the history books as the Premier League's third-highest goalscorer of all time, behind Alan Shearer and Harry Kane.

The striker made a brief return to Everton in the 2017/18 season, before hanging up his boots and moving into the dugout.

Since then he has managed Derby CountyDC United and Birmingham City before taking over Plymouth Argyle.

However, after losing 4-0 to Sheffield Wednesday Rooney's Plymouth are bottom of the table in their first game of the 2024/25 season.

Keep up to date with all the latest news, rumours and gossip with our LIVE transfer blog