Before England and Manchester United striker Wayne Rooney said he was unprepared for the pressure that followed his rise to senior football as a teenager, and that he turned to drinking to deal with his problems.
Derby County coach Rooney began his playing career with the club as a teenager
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He then joined United and became one of the country’s most iconic players, scoring 253 goals for the Old Trafford side and winning five league titles and the Champions League.
Rooney, 36, who has become England’s top scorer with 53 and the most appearances with 120 international appearances, said he has struggled to cope with the famous after growing up on a Liverpool council estate.
“To go from that to having to face being a Premier League player at 16 and an international is something I wasn’t prepared for,” Rooney told. Daily mail before the premiere of an Amazon Prime documentary about his life.
“I never even thought about the other side of being a footballer. I wasn’t prepared for that part of life.
“It took me a long time to get used to that and figure out how to deal with it. It was like being thrown somewhere where you don’t feel comfortable. It was difficult for me. “
Rooney said his drinking problems continued until his first son, Kai, was born in 2009.
“There was a time when you got a couple of days off football and I really locked myself up and just drank, to try to get all that out of my mind,” Rooney said.
“People may know that I like going out for drinks or hanging out, but there’s so much more to it. That’s what’s going on in my head.
“It’s just an accumulation of everything… the pressure of playing for your country, for United, some of the stuff that comes out in the papers about my personal life, just trying to deal with it all. that pressure.”
