Former Manchester United striker Wayne Rooney has issued a statement after ex-England teammate Andy Carroll made some bombshell claims about him in his recently released autobiography.
Occupying the same area of the pitch during their international careers, the Three Lions duo had polar opposite levels of success. Carroll – who now plays for Dagenham and Redbridge in non-league – had heaps of potential early on, but ultimately failed to reach double figures for England caps and is better known these days as one of the worst signings in football history at club level.
Wazza, of course, cannot relate. He won 120 caps, became captain, and briefly held the goalscoring record with 53 – until a certain Harry Kane came along. Rooney was also winning Premier League and Champions League titles for fun during this time, too.
A feud between the two seems as unlikely as they come, but Carroll made some eye-opening claims about Rooney’s behaviour while on England duty, which included cigarettes, lager and wine – the kind of comments that couldn’t be left unanswered.
Carroll’s Eye-Opening Comments About Rooney’s Disorderly England Antics
Rooney, now 40 and a beloved pundit, has lived a life of stark contrasts, rising from a working-class council estate in Liverpool to global football stardom.
Media scrutiny hasn’t always been easy for him to deal with, and tabloid newspapers have often been like moths to a flame when it comes to stories about his issues with alcohol. That bad rap has reemerged this week following Carroll’s comments in his autobiography. He wrote of Wayne:
“He’d be surrounded by cartons of fags, crates of lager and bottles of wine (which he got the hotel manager to deliver to his room), and soon his room would be full of players.”
While he then goes on to recall: “No one got smashed, it was just Wazza’s way of breaking the monotony with a couple of drinks.” However, his claims were probably better left unwritten, as Rooney has now responded.
Rooney Claims Carroll’s Autobiography Comments Are ‘Fabrication’
Rooney – one of the best strikers in Premier League history – was left far from impressed and has issued a pretty punchy statement, saying, as per The Sun: “I don’t normally comment on falsehoods written about me – but I will address this one.
“Andy knows that he and I never really socialised. I bumped into him once, coincidentally, while on a holiday – but that’s about it. As for this ‘tale’ about me drinking on England duty, it’s a fabrication. I don’t know where the story comes from. It’s disappointing.”
A close friend of Carroll’s, as per the same report, has hit out at Rooney for suggesting it was a fake story. “Andy is beyond baffled by the suggestion that he invented a story,” he began.
“He has no reason to make something like this up and stands by every word of his account. This is how Andy remembers the night, and he won’t be bullied into changing his version simply because someone else now disputes it. It is his honest recollection of the events as he experienced them. He is so proud of this book.”
They added: “The manuscript was carefully assessed ahead of publishing, with the appropriate checks undertaken in line with standard publishing practice. The book went through all the usual editorial and legal checks before being printed.”
