Evans: Rooney Has Been United's Heartbeat

Jonny Evans is both a friend and former team-mate of Wayne Rooney, which allowed the Manchester United Academy graduate to provide a unique insight when paying tribute to the club’s new record scorer.

The Northern Irishman registered 198 appearances and lifted nine trophies with the Reds, including three Premier League titles, before leaving Old Trafford to join West Bromwich Albion in August 2015. In an exclusive interview with ManUtd.com following a recent appearance on MUTV, Evans spoke honestly and passionately about the man who has overtaken Sir Bobby Charlton at the top of United's goals chart…

What kind of tribute can you pay to Wayne as he becomes United’s top goalscorer? 
Wazza has been an unbelievable player for Manchester United. He has been the heartbeat and focal point of the team for over 10 years now. He has always been a player that everyone absolutely loves. People don’t get to see an awful lot of him off the pitch, what he does on the pitch speaks for itself, but he is a fantastic leader and somebody who always puts smiles on people’s faces. He is a massive plus in the dressing room and around the club. Anybody that comes into Manchester United - new signings, young players - he is the man that keeps everyone together. He has been a great player and a great club servant.

Wayne is now in his 13th season at United and that’s a great achievement in itself. Do you think that is undervalued at times?
It is! It is not only the time that he has played for Manchester United, but you must also consider he has played in the majority of the games every single season and at the intensity that he plays the game. It is just incredible the way he has done it. He has still got plenty more years in the tank as well, he is still scoring goals for Manchester United and I think he will get quite a few more before the season is over.

You were in the Academy when Wayne joined the club in 2004 and started his goals tally with that hat-trick against Fenerbahçe. What are your first recollections of him here? 
I can actually remember the first time I ever saw him. He was in the gym and I was in the youth team at the time. He had just signed, but he was injured. I was at his debut when he scored those goals as well, as a youth player in the stands and as a fan. That was just mind-blowing to see what he did on his debut. I even remember he had to cut his shirt because it was too tight around his neck! He was a man before his time and what he did that night was special. It laid the foundations for him going forward to become a Manchester United legend.

Since then – and even since he was 16 at Everton – he has grown up in the spotlight with everything that he does scrutinised by both the media and the fans. Does that make his achievement of scoring so many goals and being so consistent even more impressive?
People underestimate how difficult that is. There have been times when I had scrutiny on myself on a personal level when I was at Manchester United. If you imagine what he went through for all those years then you can times my experience by 100 for him. I got to witness it first hand and it made his life very difficult. He's had to sacrifice a lot, to be that good a player in the first place but to also maintain that and carry on enjoying his life, and enjoying his football. That is a very, very hard thing to do. When I think of Wayne Rooney, that is one of the things I think of the most because he has been the most high-profile player that I have ever been around on a close, personal level. It is a very difficult thing that he has to go through on a daily basis.

The public’s image of Wayne is completely different to what he is actually like, or at least it seems that way to us. You know him as a friend and team-mate; what is he actually like?
He never shuts up! [Laughs] He is constantly on the go, can’t sit still, he always needs to be doing something, talking to somebody about something. If he is watching a movie on his laptop then he will want somebody to watch it with him! He is so infectious. He creates an unbelievable atmosphere in the dressing room because he is so funny. The stories and memories I have got that will live with me forever, most of them involve Wayne Rooney. It is just him being himself, being funny. He is a great lad and a great character. People don’t get to see that character. When he is in the public eye, or when he is doing media, the barriers come up and you can totally understand that and why he does that. But behind the scenes I don’t think anyone will ever have a bad word to say about him.

As somebody who knows him that well, do you think he is at his hungriest now given that he has been in and out of the team this season?
One thing about Wayne is that he is a fighter and I think that comes out in him. Maybe in the last couple of years you have seen that fighting spirit not at its highest level, but in the last couple of weeks I have seen it back again and I have seen that in him. It is really great to see. He has broken Sir Bobby’s record and you can tell he has got a little bit of hunger and fire back. Wayne needs that fire to play at his best. That is the way he has approached his whole life and for him to perform he needs to play with that sort of intensity.