Everton

Everton boss Sam Allardyce to hold talks with Wayne Rooney

By Daniel Lewis, Senior Reporter | 09 April 2018

Everton manager Sam Allardyce insists that Wayne Rooney still has a future at Goodison Park, despite the player's reaction to being subbed against Liverpool on Saturday.

Sam Allardyce has revealed that he intends to sit down with Wayne Rooney later this week to discuss the Everton midfielder's angry reaction to being subbed against Liverpool.

For the second game running Rooney was taken off before the hour mark, which Allardyce put down to the former England international struggling to keep up with the pace of things.

Rooney was unhappy with the decision of his manager, grabbing his jacket with force and aiming expletives towards Allardyce in the dugout, and the man in charge is keen to defuse the situation before it escalates.

"Wayne's disappointment was frustration at the fact of being an Evertonian through and through - he's been an Evertonian all his life, he made his debut for Everton when he was 16, he was playing in a great big derby match against Liverpool on his own park and he got substituted by the manager," he told talkSPORT.

"That was too much for him to take and he had to show his frustration. We'll sit down in the next week and we'll talk it through and we'll see how he feels. I'm sure he's calmed down a little bit now."

Asked if Rooney still had a future at Goodison Park, Allardyce added: "Oh yes, there's no doubt about that. The situation is it's his first season, it's been difficult for everybody. There's been, obviously, lots and lots of changes, not just behind the scenes with myself and the staff, but lots of changes with the players.

"We have to get that stability back, which I think we are slowly but surely doing, and then we have to look at what this summer will bring and what next season will bring."

Rooney, used sparsely in attacking positions by Allardyce, has 11 goals in 33 appearances since returning to Merseyside.