Rooney strikes back with new HC book

14.11.11 | Graeme Neill - The Bookseller

HarperCollins is publishing a new book by Wayne Rooney, having dismissed suggestions that it was on the brink of renegotiating the lucrative contract it has with the Manchester United and England striker.
The publisher is planning to release Wayne Rooney: My Decade in the Premier League on 30th August 2012 as an £18.99 hardback. The book will concentrate on the footballer's club career, from when he exploded onto the football scene as a precocious 16-year-old forward for Everton, to winning the Premier League titles and the Champions League with Manchester United.
It will be a text-heavy memoir, co-written with the journalist Matt Allan rather than Hunter Davies, who ghosted Rooney's 2006 memoir My Story So Far.
HarperCollins' publishing director Nick Canham said: "What we are doing is taking two or three games or moments from a season and giving a flavour of what it's like to be a top-level footballer, as well as taking a look behind the scenes. The book will look at what it's like to face Manchester City in the derby or score that great overhead kick, like Rooney did against them last season."
Press reports last week suggested HarperCollins was keen to renegotiate Rooney's contract, a five book, career-long deal which was signed in 2006 for a sum believed to be £5m. Canham said the figure quoted was wrong and stressed he was happy with the deal. He said: "It's a long-term agreement with the guy. Wayne is one of the top three players in the world, alongside Lionel Messi or Cristiano Ronaldo."
Canham said it was too early to say whether Rooney would examine some of the more controversial parts of his career in the book. Last season, Rooney issued a statement saying he wished to leave Manchester United after not getting assurances the club would attract the world's best players, before going on to sign a new five-year contract within days. Canham said: "If Wayne wishes to write about something like that, I would be more than happy for him to do so."
He added it was too soon to discuss whether another Rooney title could come out if England had success at the 2012 European Championships or what further books were planned. He said: "The simple thing is we have a long-term agreement with Wayne and that affords us a number of opportunities."