Heartbreaking reason why Wayne Rooney is banned from watching son Kai’s football matches

Wayne Rooney is responsible for a second generation of his family coming through Manchester United but is unable to watch his son in action for one devastating reason

Wayne Rooney is unable to watch his son, Kai, play for Manchester United due to his own intense fame. The teenager, 15, is the oldest child of Rooney and wife Coleen, who share three other younger sons – Klay, 11, Kit, eight, and Cass, six.

Kai, a forward like his legendary father, joined the academy of the Red Devils in 2016 as he followed in the footsteps of Rooney Sr, who celebrates his 40th birthday today. While there’s a long way to go for the teen in his journey to the top-flight, he is regarded as a highly-rated talent at Old Trafford.

Unfortunately for the ex-England captain, he’ll have to watch his matches from a distance after it was revealed the budding young talent told his father that he’s not allowed to go to his games, because of the sheer amount of attention he receives.

The revelation was made public during Coleen’s time on ITV’s I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out Of Here last year. The 39-year-old finished runner-up in the popular reality show to McFly singer Danny Jones and it was when she was in camp that she opened up about the sad decision her son opted to make.

“That’s the thing with kids I think, it’s hard to go on days out,” Coleen said last December. “Kai told Wayne to stop coming to football games, when he played grassroots tournaments and stuff because he used to get swarmed and he couldn’t even watch the game.

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“How do you say to all of these kids, ‘Go away, I’m watching my son?’ Adults, it’s different you could speak to them, so he [Kai] just said, ‘Oh, dad there’s no point you coming because you don’t even watch me play anyway.’ Which is sad, but it can’t be helped anyway. At the same time, the fans help you along the way and get you where you are.”

While he may not be on the touchline while Kai is in action, he still plays a huge role in his footballing education. Rooney previously admitted he tends to leave the coaching to the club’s staff but makes sure to pass off words of wisdom to his sons when practising at home.

It was during last month’s edition of The Wayne Rooney Show that the 40-year-old said: “I’m quite lucky where I live as I’ve got a little pitch there and when the kids say, ‘we’re coming on the pitch’, all they’re gonna do is tie the balls on the top corner,” he said to Shaun Wright-Phillips, Kelly Somers and Kae Kurd.

“So when I say to them when I was younger, I remember setting a little square to practice passing into it and just playing off the wall. So I’m very similar, [I tell them] ‘you need to work on your speed, you need to work on your technique and control.’ Otherwise, you go out and you’re just like, ‘watch me hit the ball in the top corner’.”

Given Kai’s status as the son of one of England’s greatest-ever players, Rooney praised his mental strength for dealing with added pressure and attention that comes with being his son.

During the Super Cup NI tournament in Northern Ireland, Rooney said to BBC Sport: “I just let him play. I think they started the competition well, they won 3-0, he scored the penalty and got an assist.

“So I think he started OK. He just plays and that’s all he’s done during his time playing. I think it’s very unfair for anyone to expect him to go and do all kinds. He’s just playing, he’s a 15-year-old boy playing his football, enjoying it. Of course he gets different attention to a lot of his team-mates but I think he handles that really well.”

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