Everton host Hajduk Split on Thursday night in the Europa League play-off round, and while the double-leg affair isn’t expected to be a walk in the park for the Blues, they have the attacking strength to put the Croatian side to the sword.
A player whom all eyes will be upon for the game is the Toffees summer returnee Wayne Rooney.
Having opened his account for the season with a goal for Everton on Saturday, the former Manchester United player says he is thriving on pressure to perform for the team.
The Everton Academy product also revealed he rejected a lot of club and eye-watering offers to return to Goodison Park.
According to Rooney via the Everton’s official website, he said: “There were lots of offers from other Premier League clubs and abroad, which financially would have been a lot better for me.
“But I have always been a player and person who wants to play football and that was why I chose to come back here… it was not about the money side of things.”
Rooney single-handedly secured the first 3 points of the new Premier League season for the club with his bullet header at the weekend.
Considering his last 2 season at Old Trafford, the return of the 31-year-old wasn’t the most exciting of summer signings on a performance-based level.
However, it looks like he could finally prove the “getting better with age like fine wine” cliché to be true.
Despite 5 Premier League titles, an FA Cup winner’s medal, Champions League and Europa League winner’s medals, Rooney looks more than ready to further add to his cabinet by helping fire Everton to glory.
This reunion could just go down in history as one of the best the beautiful game has ever witnessed.