My toughest year at Man United was under Jose Mourinho - I knew I had to leave

Wayne Rooney has revealed he asked to leave Manchester United during Jose Mourinho's tenure, citing the struggle of not being a regular on the pitch.

As the Fenerbahce manager prepares for an upcoming battle with his old team, with the Turkish heavyweights set to welcome the Red Devils in a Europa League encounter on Thursday (October 24), memories of Mourinho's time at Old Trafford resurface.

Despite being shown the door in 2018, Mourinho's initial season with United saw him secure both the Europa League trophy and the EFL Cup. Yet, despite these successes, Rooney felt sidelined under Mourinho's leadership, even expressing his desire to exit the club to the former Chelsea manager.

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In what turned out to be his 13th year with United, Rooney found himself more often on the bench during the 2016/17 season, a stark contrast to his illustrious career in the Premier League.

Rooney, speaking on Stick to Football earlier this year, opened up about the challenges he faced during that period. He said: "Playing under Jose Mourinho was probably my toughest year at Manchester United because I was captain, but I wasn't playing. I knew when he came in and signed Zlatan Ibrahimovic I wasn't going to get much gametime as he only plays one way and that's with one striker," reports the Mirror.

"Jose started the season with myself and Zlatan up top and we had started well, but we played Norwich City away and I was terrible, the whole team was bad but I was disappointed because I had given him the chance to leave me out the team, which he did and from then, I never really got back in the team.

"That was difficult for me, going into training every day as captain and having to put on a brave face even though I wasn't playing and wasn't happy."

Despite being club captain, Rooney found himself on the sidelines for significant matches, relegated to a mere 30 seconds of action combined in the Europa League final against Ajax and the EFL Cup final against Southampton, as Mourinho favoured Zlatan Ibrahimovic.

The Plymouth boss recalled the moment he knew he had to move on, saying: "I spoke to Jose in January 2017 and told him that Everton had approached me, and I wanted to go that month on loan or however because I wanted to play football.

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"To be fair, he told me that he may need me for the rest of the season playing in the Europa League games, so asked me to stay till the end of the season and I promise you can you leave then."

In the summer of 2017, Rooney returned to his boyhood club Everton, signing a two-year deal, whereas Mourinho's tenure at United lasted until December 2018 when he was dismissed following a poor run in the league.

Now at the helm of Fenerbahce, Mourinho has thus far guided the Turkish team to fourth place in their domestic league, and they've secured four points from their first two Europa League matches.