Sir Alex Ferguson has revealed that Manchester United chased Wayne Rooney for four years and were rejected twice by the player before he signed for the club in 2004.

Rooney broke Sir Bobby Charlton’s 44-year-old goalscoring record on the weekend with a stunning injury-time free kick to salvage a point for the Red Devils against Stoke.

That put the England and United captain on 250 goals for the club – a feat Ferguson never thought would be achieved.

But what looked in even more doubt was the 31-year-old ever playing for the Old Trafford club, as United were denied in their overtures twice – once when Rooney was 14, and again when he was 16.

In an interview with the BBC, Ferguson said: “When he was 14 years of age, Jim Ryan had flagged him up from the Everton academy and it was something that we paid attention to but he wouldn’t leave their academy at that time.

“When he became 16 we tried again but he still wouldn’t leave. Then when Walter Smith became assistant [at Manchester United] he said ‘you need Rooney, he’s the best young player in the game.’

“And that’s when we started to be serious. We made overtures to Everton, they of course resisted but we kept at it. At the end of the day it came down to a price.

“It was decided when we played Everton at Old Trafford. We had Bill Kenwright, David Moyes, Maurice Watkins, David Gill and myself, thrashing out the deal. Bill Kenwright was on his phone and he hands it [to me] and says ‘it’s my mother, she wants to talk to you.’ She said ‘don’t you dare steal my boy!’

“We thrashed out the deal - £27m, 18 years of age.”

Ferguson also spoke of his favourite of Rooney’s 250 goals for the club – his dramatic overhead kick to beat rival’s Manchester City at Old Trafford in 2011.

“The best goal was definitely against Man City,” Ferguson continued. “It was phenomenal.

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