Former England manager Fabio Capello feels Wayne Rooney had lost some of his edge before swapping the Premier League for Major League Soccer last year.
Manchester United and England’s record goalscorer plumped for a return to boyhood club Everton in July 2017 but he stayed just one season before leaving to sign for DC United.
Capello, who has exchanged occasional barbs with Rooney in the past about their time together with England, delivered a withering assessment of the striker’s most recent spell at the Toffees.
The Italian would not comment on England but, speaking in his role as a Laureus Ambassador, he said of Rooney: “He decided to go to America, it is new football, different football.
“It is a new experience and a lot of Italian players go there to finish off their careers.
“Rooney is a good player, but I saw the season when he returned to Everton and he didn’t perform well.
“He was on the pitch but like another part of the team.
“It was not the Rooney I remember – fighting, running – nothing. He lost everything, all his characteristics.”
– The Laureus World Sports Awards celebrate the most remarkable men and women from the world of sport along with their achievements from the previous calendar year. The Awards also showcase the work of Laureus Sport for Good, a charity which uses the power of sport to end violence, discrimination and disadvantage.
