Superstar Wanted To Join Barca In 2010 When He Was 'Ready' To Leave Man Utd

Wayne Rooney has revealed he was tempted to join Lionel Messi's FC Barcelona or Real Madrid when he had handed a transfer request to Red Devils 10 years ago.

In October 2010, Rooney wanted to part ways with Manchester United after pointing out the club’s inability to attract top and quality players. The news soon spread like a wildfire as Europe’s prestigious clubs began their efforts to acquire the signatures of Rooney.

While Jose Mourinho’s Chelsea and Manchester City were considered to be ahead in the race to sign Rooney a decade ago, Rooney has now unfolded that the La Liga giants Barcelona and Real Madrid were also in the race as the former England skipper was tempted to make a switch to the Spanish league.

"I think it was well documented that Chelsea and Mourinho wanted to sign me. There was Real Madrid, Barcelona and the Man City thing kept cropping up, but there was never the option for me to go there. Although there were rumors on that as well, the other three, really, were more realistic options. In my head, at the time, in that two-day period, I was ready to go and play in Spain," Rooney told the Man Utd’s podcast.

Rooney went on to add that while he would have opted to move to Barcelona, Los Blancos were in a better position to sign him apart from Chelsea.

"Ideally, I would have liked to have gone to Barcelona, but it was looking more likely to be Real Madrid than Barcelona. Chelsea were always there as well. To be honest, it was two or three days where there was communication between myself and them, or my representatives and team," added Rooney.

Rooney, who is currently associated with Championship club Derby County as their captain and interim manager, felt he could have fit in Barcelona "perfectly" back in 2010 along with the likes of Xavi, Andres Iniesta, Sergio Busquets, and Messi.

"I remember sitting down for one day and thinking 'imagine playing in that Barcelona team – Messi, Xavi, Iniesta and Busquets'. And at that time Messi wasn’t playing the way he plays now, as a no.9 for instance. He was out wide. I was thinking I could have slotted in perfectly. I could have come to the ball as well and have players running in behind," Rooney further said in the same podcast.