Wayne Rooney may be the boss today, but former coach Sir Alex Ferguson once gave him a brutal reminder of who’s in charge at Man United.
The former striker once witnessed Ferguson clearly rejecting a request from German star Mesut Özil to join his former club.
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The head coach of Plymouth Argyle can make all the important decisions about his club these days as he aims to lead the club to a successful season in the Championship.
But it wasn’t always like that – and former Red Devils head coach Ferguson was quick to point this out to Rooney.
The 2014 World Cup winner, Özil, announced his retirement from football in March 2023. Although the end of his career at Arsenal was not entirely pleasant, he received well wishes from many Gunners fans.
But if Rooney had prevailed, Man United fans might now have been able to say goodbye to a former star.
Özil has had an extremely successful career and is considered one of the most talented midfielders and assist providers of his generation.
The 34-year-old was part of the German team that knocked England out of the 2010 World Cup and caught Rooney’s eye during the game.
Özil’s efforts impressed the Man United star so much that Rooney asked Ferguson to bring him to Old Trafford.
However, the legendary coach did not want to listen to his request, as he revealed in his autobiography published in 2013: “Wayne said we should have pursued Mesut Özil, who had moved from Werder Bremen to Real Madrid.”
“My answer was that it was none of his business who we chose. I told him that it was his job to play and perform. My job was to pick the right teams. And so far I’ve done it right.”
“Well, he wasn’t on our radar at the time. When Özil was at Werder Bremen, he played on the right wing, then towards the end of the season he let him play forward.
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“He went to South Africa and did very well. But he wasn’t on our radar.
“But I explained it to Wayne and we make most of our decisions right.”
Özil played 159 games for Madrid and scored an outstanding 27 goals and 81 assists during his time at Los Blancos.
Such performances attracted the interest of Arsenal, who signed him on the last day of his contract extension in the summer of 2013.
It was a successful move for him as he scored 44 goals and provided 79 assists in 254 appearances.
During his tenure, he also won the FA Cup four times and won the World Cup with Germany before moving to Fenerbahce and then to Istanbul Basaksehir in 2021.
In the meantime, Rooney played for Manchester United for many more years until he left the club in 2017 and moved to Everton.
And later it turned out that his appreciation for Özil in 2021 was met with great enthusiasm: When the news broke that Rooney was ending his football career, the German congratulated Rooney on his outstanding career on Instagram.
“Congratulations on your incredible football career @waynerooney!” wrote Özil. “You will always be remembered as one of the best in English football history.”
“Good luck in your new chapter.”
And since retiring from football in 2021, Rooney has taken on a variety of managerial roles – most recently taking charge of Plymouth Argyle at the start of the 2023/24 season.
Mesut Özil’s Arsenal stats
2013/14 – 40 appearances, 7 goals
2014/15 – 32 appearances, 5 goals
2015/16 – 45 appearances, 8 goals
2016/17 – 44 appearances, 12 goals
2017/18 – 35 appearances, 5 goals
2018/19 – 35 appearances, 6 goals
2019/20 – 23 appearances, 1 goal
His spells at Derby County, DC United and Birmingham City all ended badly, so the 38-year-old is determined to prove himself in the Championship this season.
And Rooney will no doubt now understand exactly how his former boss felt as he tries to take over the reins of his team.
The former striker will certainly hope that he can finally translate his success as a player into a manager, having won a total of 16 trophies with Man United.
Of course, the assumption that the club would have been more successful if Özil had moved to United instead is pure fantasy – but United won the Premier League twice even without him.
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On the other hand, Manchester United have not won the top-flight league title since the season Özil joined Arsenal, and one cannot help but wonder if things would have turned out differently if he had done it.
However, we all know how his time at Arsenal ended, so perhaps Ferguson was right in this case.