Wayne Rooney shares why he has two plastic tubes in his nose after postponing his surgery
Wayne Rooney recently shared why he’s been sporting a plastic tube in his nose, explaining that he delayed surgery for years to fix two breaks he got while playing. The Manchester United legend talked with Mark Goldbridge on Disney+’s ‘Stick to United’ and opened up about why he looked a bit under the weather.
When they recorded, Rooney was just a week away from having surgery to fix long-term damage to his nose. The tubes in his nostrils were even affecting his voice. The 40-year-old said the first break happened in the mid-2010s during a 2015 FA Cup match against Preston North End, which United won 3-1. Years later, when he played in the MLS, he broke his nose again with DC United in July 2018 — and he called that one “a bad one.”
In that game, Rooney’s face was bleeding after an opponent’s head hit his nose hard, causing damage that stuck around until he finally had surgery this year. He also mentioned that his teammate Marouane Fellaini broke his nose in the same 2015 match against Preston. Now, Rooney has two plastic tubes up his nose following the surgery.
Despite this, Rooney said he feels lucky he didn’t get any black eyes, and he’s grateful the tubes are all that’s needing fixing. He showed Goldbridge where the surgery was done and admitted it was a bit uncomfortable. He had put off the operation for years but decided to finally do it after the World Cup.
“I needed surgery but never had it. I kept putting it off,” Rooney said. “Then this summer I thought, ‘Get the World Cup done, and I’ll get it fixed.’ I had it done last week. It went well, but those tubes were horrible.”
Rooney also joked about the first break he suffered, saying he didn’t miss any games, unlike Fellaini. He remembered a cheeky “dive” during that 2015 FA Cup game that earned his team a penalty. While with DC United, he scored his first MLS goal in the same match where he got his second broken nose, in an incident with Colorado Rapids’ Niki Jackson.
In the same chat, Rooney also talked about his time at Manchester United and showed support for Marcus Rashford, whose future with the club is uncertain, saying he believes Rashford can break one of Rooney’s long-standing records.