Wayne Rooney sends ‘proud’ message to son Kai in throwback after Man Utd youngster’s Old Trafford debut

And the elder Rooney took to X to express how ‘proud’ he was of his son for making his first appearance at the Theatre of Dreams. The post included an image of Kai walking out with his father at Old Trafford when the latter was still a player, and another of the former in action against Derby with the message: “Then and now. Proud of you Kai.”

It was one of the rare times that Rooney has been able to watch his son live in action. Wife Coleen has previously explained that Wayne was prohibited from attending Kai’s early matches in order to allow their son to play without the added distraction of the ex-frontman being in attendance. “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 just said: ‘Oh, dad there’s no point you coming because you don’t even watch me play anyway’,” Coleen revealed on I’m a Celebrity…Get Me Out of Here’ in 2024.

Rooney moved to United from Everton in 2004, and spent 13 years on the club’s books before returning to Goodison Park in 2017. The former frontman is United’s club-record goal-scorer having struck 253 times during a trophy-laden spell in Manchester.

In his time with United, Rooney won the Premier League five times, the Champions League once, the Europa League once and the FA Cup once. And the ex-England star will hope son Kai can follow in his footsteps with the Manchester giants.

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