Featured Image Credit: Getty
Topics: Wayne Rooney, Louis Van Gaal, Manchester United, Football, Premier League
Tom Jenkins
Topics: Wayne Rooney, Louis Van Gaal, Manchester United, Football, Premier League
Wayne Rooney has recounted an awkward first interaction between his wife Coleen and former Manchester United manager Louis van Gaal.
Van Gaal replaced David Moyes as Man United manager in 2014, and lasted two seasons with the Premier League club before being sacked after the 2016 FA Cup final.
Rooney was chosen to replace Nemanja Vidic as captain under Van Gaal and played 79 times across the Dutchman's reign at Old Trafford.
United's record goalscorer has always spoken fondly of his former boss, and in a recent episode of The Wayne Rooney Show, he revealed a controversial comment he made when meeting his wife Coleen.
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"I loved him, he was so funny," Rooney began.
"The first time he met Coleen, we had a lunch with all the players, wives, girlfriends, staff.
"He came up to Coleen, first time he had met her, he said 'your children, they look very much like the father', she said 'yeah', he said 'he has very strong sperm'. That was the first time he met her!" He joked.
He added: "He was so funny, such a good character. We just moved on. I really liked him as a person.
Coleen Rooney has been by her husband's side since the early days of his career at Everton, and has become a well-known figure in the UK, recently appearing on I'm a Celebrity Get Me Out of Here!
In the new episode, Rooney explained working with Van Gaal was different to any manager he had previously had, and argued he learnt more from him than anyone else throughout his career.
"He was different and funny but as a coach I probably learned more from him than I did from anyone else," he added.
Despite his relationship with the United legend as well as an FA Cup victory, Van Gaal was sacked in favour of Jose Mourinho.
Rooney went on to explain how impressed he was with how the now 74-year-old dealt with the conclusion of his time at Old Trafford.
"I have so much respect for him, I think his wife maybe found out at half-time of the game," the former United and Everton man said.
"We won the cup, we had the after party. Louis was stood over with his wife and a couple of friends and he was very quiet, that's just weren't him.
"I went up to him and said "boss, whatever is going on just forget it and enjoy tonight" and he couldn't. It was tough, it was tough for us because we respected him.
"It was really sad because you looked at him, big personality, we had just won the FA Cup, and he knew - we all knew - that he was going to be sacked.
"Fair play to him, he stuck to his job until the end and I have a lot of respect for him for that," he added.