Wayne Rooney is banned by his son Kai from watching the youngster’s Manchester United youth games. Kai, 16, is following the example set by his footballing icon father by also playing for the Red Devils, who he joined as an 11-year-old.
As the eldest of four boys shared between Wayne and his wife Coleen, there is tremendous pressure on the teenage striker to mirror his dad’s achievements at Old Trafford. That’s certainly no easy feat given Wayne is United’s all-time leading goalscorer with 253 goals, a former captain and five-time Premier League winner after a 13-year career in the first team, having emerged as a household name at the same age Kai is now.
Unsurprisingly, Kai received plenty of media and fan attention even before establishing himself as a promising prospect in United’s youth ranks. That spotlight, while elevating his profile and helping him secure a boot deal with Puma aged just 12, has had negative repercussions too.
One of those is that Wayne is sadly unable to attend his son’s football matches live without hordes of fans approaching him for pictures and autographs. With the media circus following Wayne off the pitch and overshadowing his son’s progress on it, Coleen once revealed that Kai reached the heart-breaking decision to tell the England legend not to bother attending games.
Coleen said on I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here in 2024: "That's the thing with kids I think, it's hard to go on days out. Kai told Wayne to stop coming to football games, when he played grassroots tournaments and stuff because he used to get swarmed and he couldn't even watch the game.
"How do you say to all of these kids, 'Go away, I'm watching my son?' Adults, it's different, you could speak to them. So he (Kai) just said, 'Oh, dad there's no point you coming because you don't even watch me play anyway.' Which is sad, but it can't be helped anyway. At the same time, the fans help you along the way and get you where you are."
Kai started playing for United's U18s this season at the age of 15, a few months before his birthday in November. He debuted as a substitute during their 1-0 win against his father's boyhood club, Everton, at Finch Farm back in August.
Sadly, an injury sidelined him in the early weeks of the season, though he has since returned to the pitch for Darren Fletcher's side, marking his comeback with a goal.
Wayne, aware of his own standing in the game, previously admitted he tries to let the club’s coaching staff handle the bulk of his son’s development by not giving him too many tactical instructions. However, he does occasionally impart important advice to all of his sons during practice sessions at home, with Klay and Cass playing for United and Everton, respectively.
Speaking on The Wayne Rooney Show, the 40-year-old explained: "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 practise 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.'"