'He was even wilder then!'
Wayne Rooney may currently be making headlines as manager of Plymouth Argyle, but Tom Heaton has fond memories of sharing a pitch with the fiery forward at youth level.
Although Rooney was a household name at 16, while Heaton had to wait longer for his senior bow, there is just six months separating the pair, and so they were part of the same age-group sides, at least for a while.
Heaton wore the red of United, after joining from Wrexham, and Rooney represented boyhood club Everton, so they were regular opponents as teenagers.
Wazza was a famously aggressive striker, especially in his younger days, and our current goalkeeper recalls a skirmish or two involving the Merseysider.
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“I played against him a number of times when he was at Everton,” Tom remembered, in our ‘What United Means to Me’ interview, where Heaton talks us through his journey from schoolboy to first-team player.
“We were obviously the same age and he was even more wild when he was younger, I think!
“I can remember now, we played away, I think we were Under-14s or Under-15s, and him and our centre-half were fighting on the pitch – and I literally mean fighting!
“Both got red cards, so I sort of knew of him at the time. He was obviously an incredible player with incredible ability, but he also had that fiery temperament, so yeah, [I've got] some real interesting memories of him.”
Heaton had to leave United to carve out a career for himself, playing in the Premier League and for England before returning to the club in the summer of 2021.
The 38-year-old is a key part of the goalkeeping set-up but still remembers coming up against future stars during those formative days in the Academy.
“Yeah, to be honest, looking back on teamsheets, an awful lot of players had careers from that era and that time,” Heaton added.
“Numerous players in my age group, some in the year above and some in the year below, and I think that’s what United was built on, really: not just getting into the first team but getting players careers in the game.
“They gave them the skills to adapt to wherever you went in football. Not everybody, but it gave you a real good opportunity to go and forge a career out of the game.”