"I'm Excited For The Season Ahead"

Wayne Rooney says he is “ready to go” with an Everton team heading in the “right direction” following Thursday’s Europa League third-round qualifying victory over MFK Ružomberok.

Rooney completed 90 minutes on his second competitive Blues debut, starting the game against the Slovakians as a centre-forward, before adopting a deeper position after the second-half introduction of Sandro Ramirez.

Everton head into next week’s second-leg with a one-goal advantage, thanks to Leighton Baines’s second-half strike at Goodison Park against dogged Slovakian opponents.

And despite the emotion attached to playing for his boyhood club again, after more than 13 years away, Rooney insisted securing a positive result on his homecoming night was all that mattered.


“I am excited for the season,” said Rooney. “Last night was my first game back at Goodison, so it was a great occasion for me but the result was more important.

“I am happy to be back here. It is a new challenge for me and I want to help us be more successful. Hopefully I can help contribute to the team.

“It has changed here since I was last playing at Everton. But we are going in the right direction and it is great to be a part of that.”

It took 65 minutes for Everton to breach Ružomberok’s stubborn defences, via left-back Baines’s deflected 25-yard strike.

Rooney is keen for the side to divvy up goalscoring duties as much as possible this term. But he admits it is difficult to look beyond next week’s return meeting in Slovakia, when the Blues will seek to secure progression to the Europa League’s play-off round.

“We will have to see how the start of the season goes and we will have to kick on from there,” said Rooney. 

“The most important thing is making sure we are right for the start of the season, getting pre-season under our belts.

“We are only a few weeks into pre-season, so we are still preparing. It was a game where we had to get a result and we have got a good win to take to their place next week. We are pleased with that but, of course, there are things we can do a lot better.

“It would be great if we could get a few of us scoring the goals this season. But we will wait and see how that pans out and just keep working hard.

“I have come to Everton and felt comfortable. I am ready to go.”