Alan Shearer has now confirmed that Newcastle United came close to signing one of the best strikers in the world from Man United.
Newcastle already had a top striker in Shearer at the time but had been keen to bolster their attack with another star player who was one of the most exciting young talents in football.
Speaking on The Rest Is Football podcast, Shearer claimed that Newcastle had ‘definitely’ placed a bid for Man United’s Wayne Rooney towards the beginning of his career at Old Trafford.
Shearer would have loved Rooney at Newcastle
While Shearer was coming to the end of his career Rooney was only really just starting his having signed for Man United at the age of 18 when he was already considered a top player in the Premier League.
Back then Newcastle still had the pull of European final and having very recently been in back-to-back FA Cup finals which they ultimately lost but it showed they were close to being a top class team.
Rooney will have been very grateful for the decision he made given the amount of trophies he had won under Sir Alex Ferguson, but things could have been very different for him had he joined Tyneside.
It also makes you wonder what kind of a team Newcastle would have been with the ‘world class‘ striker in their team and if he could have ended their trophy drought having not won a domestic trophy since 1955.
On the show, Lineker asked: “Is that true, do you know if Newcastle did put a bid in?”
Shearer responded: “Yeah they did. I don’t know how serious it was, the old chairman at the time Freddie Shepherd, his son was involved in the agency so whether it was to speed a new contract up, I don’t know.
“But Newcastle did put a bid in for him when he was at Man United. Definitely a bid went it for him. It would have been great but I don’t think realistically it was ever going to happen.”
Newcastle have a new world class striker
Rooney was one of a kind, a generational talent who took the league by storm and will go down as one of England’s greatest ever players and Newcastle will forever think about what could have been,
However, the Geordies already have a top class talent on their hands in Alexander Isak who has the potential to be one of the best strikers in the world if he can sort out his fitness issues.
The Swedish international is one of the most technically gifted players to have worn a black and white shirt and it’s been a real shame for him that he’s not really gotten into a good rhythm this season because of all the little knocks he’s suffered.
If they play their cards right, however, and keep hold of him in the long run then they could have a seriously good talent on their hands who may just be the answer to that trophy drought everyone is so desperate to end.
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