Wayne Rooney’s footballer son Kai Rooney was back in action for Manchester United under-18s on Wednesday after recovering from a lengthy injury layoff. The 16-year-old came off the bench and notched the final goal of the game as the Red Devils defeated Birmingham City 6-0.
Rooney Jnr signed for the United academy in 2020 when he was just 11 years old and has been tipped to progress to the first-team in the coming years. The attacker represented United’s under-19s when he was 15 and went on to excel at the Super Cup NI in Northern Ireland over the summer. But he suffered an injury in September as he was forced to wear a protective boot and walk with the aid of crutches.
Rooney made his eagerly-anticipated return to the pitch during United’s Under-18 Premier League Cup clash with the Blues at Carrington.
And he soon got his name on the scoresheet as he collected the ball in the penalty area and fired an explosive effort beyond the reach of away keeper Szymon Terenowicz from a tight angle. Rooney then took to Instagram to provide an update to his 374,000 followers.
The teenager shared a snap of his match shirt as he included the scoreline and made reference to his goal. And he wrote: “Hard performance.” He then shared United’s own post-match graphic, before posting a video of his goal.
Rooney appeared to be devastated after learning of his injury setback in the autumn.
And he took to Instagram at the time to post an image of himself standing in front of the mirror, with his protective boot and crutches in plain sight. He then captioned the post: “Life can’t get worse.”
The young player then shared another update at the start of November as he appeared in United tracksuit bottoms without the protective boot. And he added two hourglass emojis to suggest he was closing in on a return to action.
Rooney’s father Wayne spoke about his son on his podcast last month as he revealed the youngster has undergone a positional change. “He’s gone to the right,” Rooney Snr explained. “Left-footed, coming in off the right.”
And during an interview with the BBC, the England international stated: “He has great coaches at Manchester United, so I take a stand off approach. I speak to him, but for me it’s all about his mentality and his mindset, to make sure he keeps enjoying it – that’s the main thing for me.”
