Everton captain Phil Jagielka has revealed that he is desperate to see Wayne Rooney return to Goodison Park.
Rooney came through the youth system at Everton, making the breakthrough into the senior team in 2002 before moving to Manchester United for £26m in the summer of 2004.
Last week, Everton boss Ronald Koeman suggested that he would be interested in signing the England captain, who has fallen out of favour at Old trafford this season.
Jagielka shares the views of his manager and the England centre-back is confident that Everton supporters would welcome their former hero back to Merseyside.
"He is an Evertonian and I'm sure the fans would take to him. He's built the bridges that he potentially burnt many, many years ago when he was a young lad and I would say you'll just have to watch this space," Jagielka told reporters.
"Obviously we still know he's a fantastic player. People are quick to jump on his back but that's the way Wayne has had it for most of his career. Maybe a fresh start somewhere would help him or maybe he's a game away from being a hero again. It's a difficult one."
Rooney has only scored once in 13 appearances for Man United this season and that sole strike came on the opening weekend of the 2016-17 Premier League campaign.
Matt Law
