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Kai Rooney is already feeling the heat because of his footballing heritage and gets abused by fans because of his father Wayne, mother Coleen has revealed.
Rooney’s 15-year-old son plays for Manchester United’s youth academy, having joined in 2020 with dreams of emulating his former England captain dad.
He clearly has talent — in his first full season he scored 56 goals for the youth set-up.
Over the summer fans even jokingly called for him to join the first team at Old Trafford after seeing him take part in some drills, with a video showing his great finishing.
But it has not been all plain sailing for the young talent, who was born in 2009 when Rooney was arguably at the peak of his powers with the Red Devils.
“A few years ago, I remember my son Kai took a penalty at St George’s Park, where we were for a tournament,” Coleen told the Stick to Football podcast, brought to you by Sky Bet.
“It went to penalties, Kai stepped up and just skied it. Afterwards I asked him how he could take a penalty like that, and he told me he was just fuming as the goalkeeper was saying ‘Your dad’s s***’, and he got dead angry. It doesn’t happen to him very often, but it did then, and you can see in some games where they give you a little push. He’s strong-minded though and usually shrugs it off.”
Foul chants are something his father has had plenty of experience of over his career as a player and manager. Wayne is a tough act to follow but Kai appears to be making good inroads at youth level.
His dad is a five-time Premier League champion, United’s all-time top scorer with 253 goals, and even won the Champions League in 2008.
But Kai has been lighting up United’s academy, racking up the goals.
After seeing a clip last year, one fan commented: “You can tell he has something special we need to keep him and develop him right.”
His father Wayne should have more time on his hands to watch his son play and aid his progress on the pitch after being sacked by Championship club Plymouth in December.
Rooney, 39, was sacked with the Devon club sat bottom of the second tier after a tricky seven-month tenure.
The nature of living alone on the south coast meant that he had limited time to spend with his family, though they did reunite for Christmas Day.
Coleen shared a snap of them and their four children, Kai, 15, Klay, 11, Kit and Cass, wearing matching pyjamas in front of the Christmas tree. (ww.dailymail.co.uk)
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