Wayne Rooney lifts lid on binge-drinking struggles during Manchester United career

10.02.2022 - 13:19 / manchestereveningnews.co.uk

Wayne Rooney has lifted the lid on his struggles with binge-drinking during his time at Manchester United.

The club record-scorer has been speaking to the press ahead of the release of the documentary 'Rooney', which is released on Amazon Prime Video on Friday and covers his life from childhood until the start of his management career at Derby.

Rooney has spoken honestly about all facets of his life, and in particular, the human side of his rise from a teenage hopeful to one of the most famous people in the world.

Speaking about the 'mistakes' he had made, Rooney told BBC Breakfast: "That could have been girls, it could have been drink-driving, which I've done, it could have been killing someone - you could kill yourself - and that's a bad place to be.

"I knew I needed help, to save myself but also to save my family."

When asked about his relationship with drink now, Rooney added: "It's fine, I'm really in control of it. I had to be.

"As I said, I was never an alcoholic, I was more of a binge drinker, where, if I got two days off, I'd literally drink for two days and then dust myself down - eye drops, chewing gum, mouth wash - to go into work and then have to run around a pitch and train. I wasn't giving the best version of me to my club at times.

"I've spoken to people. It helped. You let your feelings out. I didn't do that - I held them in and then it builds up."