How Kai Rooney responds to ‘are you as good as your dad?’ questions – with son of Man Utd & England legend Wayne treading his own path with Red Devils

At 14 years of age, the oldest child in the Rooney clan is showing plenty of promise within the Red Devils’ academy system. He has already won trophies at youth level, while also boasting a prolific strike rate – with finishing ability seemingly being inherited from his famous father.

There is a long way to go before he can claim to have stepped out of the shadow cast by Wayne – who is United’s all-time leading goalscorer – with Kai eager to avoid comparisons for now. Coleen has told The Mirror: “We’ve never pressured them into even playing football. We’ve always just let them decide what they want to do. My eight-year-old was playing and doing really well but then decided he didn’t want to, and that’s OK.

“I think they sometimes get pressure off other people, you know. People approach them now and then if we’re out, they do say, ‘Are you are as good as your dad?’. Kai says ‘I’m a different type of player.’ You’ve got to let them know that you don’t have to follow and to be your own person.”

Rooney has four sons with wife Coleen – Kai, Klay, Kit and Cass – with no pressure put on any of them to tread the same career path that he once took. Coleen added: “They’re very sporty but my younger two enjoy music. One is learning guitar, the other piano and both of them drums. The two older ones are football-mad and my eldest loves speaking Spanish at the minute and is into this Spanish rap. So he’s doing that all over the house. The house is even noisier.”

Wayne Rooney does not have to contend with that on an everyday basis, as he is currently based in Devon - 260 miles away from his family home. That is because the ex-England international is looking to rebuild his reputation in coaching circles with Championship side Plymouth.