Wayne Rooney reveals he turned Everton approach down as club hold final talks with Vitor Pereira, Frank Lampard and Duncan Ferguson
Wayne Rooney says he turned down Everton approach as he is committed to Derby; Everton holding final-round talks with Frank Lampard, Duncan Ferguson and Vitor Pereira on Friday; Pereira spoke exclusively to Sky Sports regarding his desire to take up post on Wednesday
“I believe that I will be a Premier League manager and I believe I’m ready for that 100 per cent, and if that is with Everton one day in the future that’d be absolutely great. But I’ve got a job here to do at Derby County which is an important job to me.”
Asked if it was a hard decision to not speak to Everton, Rooney added: “Yes, of course I did [think hard about it]. They got in touch with my agent and my agent let the administrators know as well. Of course it was a very difficult decision for me.”
Everton continue their search for a successor to Rafael Benitez after the former Liverpool boss was relieved of his duties after just 200 days in the wake of the recent 2-1 defeat to Norwich.
The club’s owner Farhad Moshiri flew to London to hold talks with Pereira, Lampard and Ferguson on Friday morning. Everton chairman Bill Kenwright, chief executive Denise Barrett-Baxendale and finance director Grant Ingles were also seen outside Kenwright’s central London office.
Former Porto and Fenerbahce manager Pereira has been in contention for the Everton job twice in the past, losing out to Roberto Martinez in 2013 followed by Marco Silva in 2018.