Manchester United youngster Kai Rooney, son of club legend Wayne, made headlines this week as he made the concerning claim that "life can't get worse". The 15-year-old was evidently devastated after picking up a nasty injury.
The teenager has steadily been impressing at Carrington for a number of years now, but will have some way to go before he can truly earn any comparisons with his father's playing career. Rooney senior, after all, is one of the finest footballers to ever represent the Red Devils – and England as well, for that matter.
As such, Kai may well have a sense of urgency in his mind, despite being so young, as he hopes to make a name for himself in the game. After all, his dad was already scoring goals vs Arsenal in the Premier League by the time he was 16. This would perhaps explain why he seemed so upset as he revealed a concerning injury, which has left him with crutches.
Kai took to Instagram, lamenting that "life can't get worse" and sharing a crying emoji, having picked up the injury. The picture showed his right foot in a protective boot. It remains to be seen how long he will be out for.
Wayne Rooney's Advice For Son Kai
His father, however, has imparted some words of wisdom while speaking on The Wayne Rooney Show this week. He explained how he has encouraged his kids to work all parts of the game, including speed, technique and control.
Although it won't help Kai while he's out injured. It will certainly benefit him when he returns to action. Rooney said:
"I'm quite lucky where I live as I've got a little pitch there and when the kids say, 'we're coming on the pitch', all they're gonna do is tie the balls on the top corner.
"So when I say to them when I was younger, I remember setting a little square to practice passing into it and just playing off the wall. So I'm very similar, [I tell them] 'you need to work on your speed, you need to work on your technique and control.' Otherwise, you go out and you're just like, 'watch me hit the ball in the top corner'."
It's not the first time Rooney has spoken about Kai in recent times. Chatting with BBC Sport (via Manchester Evening News) during the Super Cup NI tournament in Northern Ireland, he gave some thoughts on how his son was doing:
"I just let him play. I think they started the competition well, they won 3-0, he scored the penalty and got an assist.
"So I think he started OK. He just plays and that's all he's done during his time playing. I think it's very unfair for anyone to expect him to go and do all kinds. He's just playing, he's a 15-year-old boy playing his football, enjoying it.
"Of course he gets different attention to a lot of his team-mates but I think he handles that really well."