Manchester United icon Wayne Rooney has revealed he has finally had surgery to fix a broken nose eight years after suffering the injury. The former England forward broke his nose while playing for MLS side DC United in 2018 but delayed corrective surgery.
Surgery and Recovery
The 40-year-old continued his playing career with Derby County before moving into management with the Rams, with later stints at DC United, Birmingham City, and Plymouth Argyle. Now working in the media, Rooney has confirmed he underwent the operation last week.
Speaking on the first episode of Stick to United, Rooney said: "I had surgery on my nose last week. I’m actually really lucky I’ve got no black eyes. But I’ve still got two plastic tubes up my nose which are coming out very soon. I can’t wait for them to come out. They’ve cut here so that’s all stitched. It’s a little bit uncomfortable."
Injury History
Rooney explained the injury occurred during an FA Cup match against Preston, adding: "I broke my nose against Preston in the FA Cup. It was when all that Wade Barrett stuff came out because it was a bit of a dive. I won a penalty. I broke my nose in that game and then, when I went to DC United, I broke my nose again. That was a bad one."
He added: "I needed surgery but I never had it. I put it off. This summer I thought I’d get the World Cup out of the way and I’ll get it done. I had it done last week. It went well but these tubes are horrible and they’re still in."
Transfer Thoughts
Rooney’s comments came after he was asked about his former club’s summer transfer business. The former forward claimed that four positions still need strengthening before the deadline.
Rooney said: "I thought Luke Shaw had a really good season last season, but he didn’t have the best game against AC Milan. So I don’t think you can rely on Luke Shaw to be consistent for the whole season. That leads me to Lewis-Skelly, and we’re hearing that he’s available for not much money. I think it’s an absolute no-brainer. If you can get a player who can play left-back, he can play centre midfield. He’s young, he’s got a massive future ahead of him. I think it’s an absolute no-brainer if you can bring him in."
He added: "I’d like to see another centre-back, I’d like to see another central midfield player and another centre forward. So I think there’s still a lot of work there to be done, but I think it’s really important that the players they do bring in, they get it right and they get the right players in."
