Everton's Moyes to sue Rooney

Everton manager David Moyes is to sue his former protege and England [Images] striker Wayne Rooney [Images] over comments made in the 20-year-old's autobiography, his lawyer said on Friday.

Rooney, who joined Manchester United [Images] in 2004 for a fee estimated at 25 million pounds ($48 million), made his first-team breakthrough under Moyes at Goodison Park as a teenager.

In his book, My Story So Far which was serialised in the Daily Mail newspaper, Rooney said his soured relationship with Moyes hastened his departure and that he would have gone almost anywhere to get away from the Everton boss.

Moyes' lawyer Mel Goldberg told BBC Radio his client would sue Rooney and the owners of the Daily Mail.

"There are a couple of comments but I think the main one is 'Moyes forced me out' [of Everton]. That was far from the truth," he said.

"He's taken action against the newspaper, the Daily Mail, where the article appeared.

"The other action will be in relation to the book, so that is being dealt with separately and proceedings will be issued against the publishers plus Wayne Rooney, which haven't been issued at this time."

Goldberg said that Moyes was particularly angered by claims he forced Rooney out of the club.

"The whole of the back page of the Daily Mail a couple of weeks ago bore a headline which said 'Moyes forced me out' and according to my instructions that's a million miles from the truth.

"I think he has a very good case. The truth of the matter is that David Moyes fought very hard to keep Wayne Rooney at Everton and spent some six months trying to persuade his star player to stay but Wayne Rooney was determined to go."

Goldberg said Moyes was looking for an apology initially and would consider settling any case out of court in a bid to prevent a high-profile legal battle.

Rooney, a product of Everton's youth academy, made his first-team debut as a 16-year-old in 2002 and two months later, five days shy of his 17th birthday, became the then Premier League's youngest scorer when he netted a superb match-winner against Arsenal [Images].

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