Manchester United superstar Wayne Rooney is working with the club’s foundation to provide help for kids. The player says all the funds raised from his testimonial match against his former club Everton at Old Trafford will go to the charity.
The money is understood will be used to fund a scholarship programme to cater for youths from disadvantaged areas. The funds aims at giving the children an opportunity to reach university level education. Four charities are set to benefit from the proceeds of the charity game with Manchester United Foundation being one of them.
The game will see Portuguese tactician Jose Mourinho be in charge of the Red Devils at Old Trafford for the first time since his unveiling. Star player Zlatan Ibrahimovic is also set to make his first appearance for the Red Devils, ahead of his first Premier League Title challenge. Having won the titles in France, Italy and Spain, Ibrahimovic will be expecting big things at United.
Tickets for the game will cost between £25 for adults and £10 for juniors but will be hoped to generate as much as possible to cater for the children.
The money from the game will be used to set up a Wayne Rooney scholarship which is a brand new programme set up to help young children reach their potential. Rooney, who already carries out work and visits for the Foundation, has made his plan known to everyone.
The chief executive of the Foundation, John Shiels, says it would be a fitting and powerful legacy for the player at the club – this would be the first time the club has done anything like this and that they are really excited about it. He added that Rooney was from a more deprived area but he found a way out by playing football and he is giving these opportunities to people who might not have that chance.
From the coming year, the scholarship will be opened to all the 11 year old pupils at the Foundation partner schools.
Meanwhile, Luke Shaw is also looking forward to the match, but for different reasons. Bubbling with excitement having got into competitive soccer after about forty weeks, Luke Shaw was hell bent on continuing after the half-time break in the recent fixture versus Wigan, but, Jose Mourinho logically substituted him as he wanted to be on the safer side in terms of the fitness of the defender.
According to Mourinho, Shaw must be admired for being so sacrificing in the off-season. He opted against visiting a holiday destination and instead remained in Manchester to work on his body.
Mourinho says coming to Old Trafford he reckoned Shaw would not have enough training in the past weeks and he would not be at his physical best and might have even put on a little bit of weight, but, to come and see him as quick as ever is definitely a pleasant surprise. The player’s approach to the whole recovery process has been splendid.
The Portuguese said, “To be this fit this early after the type of injury he had, it was going to take enormous effort from Luke and he has put in every bit of the effort needed. I had not presumed to have him in such good shape right away to be honest and it’s the result of continuous training for which I would credit the youngster. He has not had a holiday at all, not even a week off. You can imagine how dedicated he has been to get himself in the shape he is at the moment.”
Shaw had sustained a broken foot during a match of the European Cup in Netherlands the previous season and as severe an injury as it was, his season was over right there, but, the quicker recovery of the left-back meant he could have made a comeback in FA Cup title match. However, it wasn’t to be.
Shaw will join the rest of the United team in playing his first competitive match of the season at Old Trafford in Wayne Rooney’s testimonial.