Manchester United: Wayne Rooney reveals he had differences with Sir Alex Ferguson

Manchester United star Wayne Rooney has revealed he had differences with his former manager Sir Alex Ferguson. The striker had decided to end his time at Old Trafford and was looking for an exit in the summer of 2013.

The legendary manager stepped down from his post after the end of the 2012-13 campaign. In the Scot's final season in charge, the Red Devils won their 20<sup>th league title. Robin van Persie arrived from Arsenal a year before and the Dutch international was the star player to lead United's attack.

Ferguson dropped Rooney from the starting lineup in the second leg of the Champions League knockout clash against Real Madrid. The England international was played out of position and was unhappy with the situation at the club, which persuaded him to leave the 20-time English champions. The former United manager confirmed Rooney had expressed his desire to leave in his final home game. The Three Lions captain also hailed Ferguson as the "greatest manager of all time".

"We had differences [of opinion] but that's normal. Ask Roy [Hodgson]. He's had differences with players over the years, too," Rooney said, as quoted by the Guardian. "That's part of football. I'm not the only person who had differences with Sir Alex Ferguson but I can still sit here and say he was the greatest manager of all time.

"I still see Sir Alex quite a bit at games and he travels away to European games with us. It's not that we don't like each other. We just had differences. That's normal."

Rooney is one goal away from becoming England's top scorer as he is the joint top-scorer with Sir Bobby Charlton on 49 goals. The former Everton man hopes he can continue to score more goals for his national side.

"I feel I've got still quite a lot of games left to play for England. If I was sat here saying 'I just want to get 50 goals', then I'd be lying," the United striker explained. "I'd be disappointed if I ended my England career on 50 goals. I want to kick on and try to score as many goals as I can. I've still got plenty of games to do that. Hopefully by the time I finish playing it will be more goals than 50."