"This isn't a retirement home" - Wayne Rooney ready to prove a point at Everton

Today was Wayne Rooney’s first day back as an Everton player in 13 years, and he joined his teammates in a training session earlier in the morning. After keeping manager Ronald Koeman waiting for a few minutes to begin the press conference, they both spoke to the media.

Rooney on his return to Everton

It’s an exciting time, we’re moving forward, we’re signing the right players, we hope it can be a very good year for us.

For us all, you want to do better than the previous year. We want to keep pushing and try to bring trophies to the club.

It would be incredible - I was at the FA Cup final in 1995 when we won that. To win a trophy at Everton would be special moment.

It’s what we all want - players, fans, manager - and that’s what we have to do.

The club are moving in the right direction, the manager will have his ideas on who he wants to bring in, we’ll try to make sure we can give everything.

Once I knew Koeman was interested in bringing me back to Everton it was a no-brainer, it's where I wanted to play.

It will be an emotional day but once I am on the pitch I need to focus. The build-up will be exciting and it's a day I am looking forward to.

My dad has come up to watch me in Manchester and now he will have five minute drive to watch me again so he is really happy.

Rooney on his on-field position

You’ll have to wait and see. The big thing was coming back here to play, he’ll assess training and we’ll make our decisions on that.

Koeman on Rooney and his position

Everyone knows the qualities of Wayne. We're trying to get more productivity. He can be 10 behind the striker, the 9, the 7, wide from the left.

We like to win trophies. That’s a feeling not all Everton players have here, we have a lot of young players. That experience of winning titles is important for Everton.

Koeman wouldn't speak on transfers

I think so far we’ve done some good business, and next week we’ll see what more we can go do.

Right now this is Wayne’s press conference and it’s really great, at the next press conference you’ll get more.

You know me, you can mention all the names you want, I will not respond.

Koeman on Lukaku’s departure

He took the right decision. Let’s hope everything goes well. I like him, I like the player. But it’s all about Everton now.

There was one big reason I signed for Everton and it was all about the project. The club are showing this ambition, it’s very exciting times. It’s for everyone to show we will fight for it.

Rooney on his ‘wearing Everton pyjamas’ comment

No, no stick. It was all about my kids. My oldest lad is an Evertonian so he’s delighted I’ve come back.

Rooney coming back to Everton

I’m excited, it’s a challenge which is the right time in my career. This isn’t a retirement home.

Obviously Ronald’s ideas and the players we’re bringing it, it’s on us. It’s one thing saying we want to win trophies but it’s on us to do it.

I’m going to Old Trafford to try to win three points with Everton. Football moves on, players move on, I’ve come back to Everton. The fixtures are tough, we need to get the pre-season right.

Koeman likes Rooney to handle the pressure

When we spoke it was about ambition, he was desperate to come back. He showed me he likes pressure, he’s used to doing that. Some players need that pressure to get the best out of themselves.

You mention his age, he’s 31, will be 32 in October, still young for football. The qualities and ambition showed me enough to come back to Everton.

Koeman on his expectations this season

I’ve been working in football for a long time. I haven’t had a single season without pressure. That’s good, because in football you like to win titles, and you need to deal with pressure. Everyone knows managers have to win. The signings that we have tried to bring in is to make the team stronger and to fight to win trophies.

It’s still too soon to talk about top four. We want to continue what we did last season. Everybody are trying to get the best players, the big six will spend money but it’s a good signal that we’re trying to give them the competition we didn’t last season.

The first season was trying to play good football, good results. We did well last season but now we need to make the next step, get those players in, get the players we need to improve.

Koeman on Ross Barkley’s future

It’s a nice question... for the next press conference.

I don’t speak about other things other than the presentation than Wayne. That’s more important.

Next time.

Koeman on Aaron Lennon’s return

I was really pleased to have him back on the training pitch. Everyone knows he had a difficult, hard time the last few months of last season, and everybody is really happy that Aaron is back. It’s a good time for him to get his fitness back and be ready for the pre-season.

---

Watch the complete press conference below, scroll forward to the 19:50 mark for the start.

Rooney will be part of the Everton tour party to East Africa that leaves tomorrow for a friendly against Kenyan team Gor Mahia to be held in Dar-es-Salaam, Tanzania on Thursday.