Sky Sports' Johnny Phillips: Everton can give true blue Wayne Rooney his spark

A return to his hometown club Everton is the only move that makes sense. All parties would win, writes Sky Sports Soccer Saturday's Johnny Phillips.

Everton manager Ronald Koeman spoke openly about his qualities on Tuesday and suggested Rooney would make Everton a stronger team.

It is unusual for managers to talk in such a way about players under contract at other clubs. Koeman will have known, before opening his mouth, that Manchester United boss Jose Mourinho would not have objected to such talk.

With Zlatan Ibrahimovic so impressive in his debut Premier League season and ready to extend his stay at Old Trafford, there appears no way back for Rooney in United colours. Ibrahimovic leads the line brilliantly on his own with Marcus Rashford, Anthony Martial, Juan Mata and Jesse Lingard selected ahead of Rooney in roles just behind the big Swede. Rooney didn't even make it off the bench in last weekend's EFL Cup final win over Southampton.

For his testimonial game last August, Rooney arranged United to play Everton and even went as far as saying they were the only two clubs he could see himself playing for in the future. That was when his position in Mourinho's team was far less precarious. With first-team football vanishing over the horizon, I would suggest Rooney would be far less picky with any options put forward today.

Mooted destinations include China and USA, but the 31-year-old Scouser would be unwise to head out of the Premier League so soon. He is a home bird and still has so much to offer the Premier League.

It seems just the blink of an eye since his first top-flight goal on his league debut. It came against Arsenal at Goodison Park on October 19, 2002. A few weeks earlier Rooney had become Everton's youngest ever scorer when two of his goals helped see off Wrexham at the Racecourse Ground in a League Cup tie.

David Moyes and his coaching staff had known about Rooney's talents for some time. He had already scored a spectacular solo goal in the previous season's FA Youth Cup against Spurs and his training ground antics regularly included individual moments of genius that left his senior team-mates wide-eyed in disbelief.

Arsenal were the reigning champions and with the match level at 1-1 going into the last 10 minutes it looked as if the Blues had secured a decent result. But Moyes had one more throw of the dice; he brought the 16-year-old Rooney on from the bench for the final few minutes.

In injury time, Danish midfielder Thomas Gravesen punted the ball up field, more in hope than expectation. Rooney brought it down with a sublime touch, cut back inside his marker and from 30 yards out curled a beauty into the top corner past the reach of England's number one goalkeeper David Seaman.

The goal signalled his arrival on the big stage and Rooney went from strength to strength. By the time of his departure for Manchester United in August 2004, he had already proved himself on the international stage.

Euro 2004 was Rooney's time, although it was cruelly cut short by injury. He was the star of the championships, unplayable in the eyes of defenders, as England swept aside Switzerland and Croatia in the group stages.

Were it not for a metatarsal injury during the knock-out defeat to Portugal, who knows how far England may have gone in the competition. Darius Vassell wasn't quite a like-for-like replacement.

Rooney scored a Champions League hat-trick on his debut for United against Fenerbahce and went on to become the club's record goalscorer.

But he never reached the heights of 2004 again. His career has unquestionably been great, but that summer was never matched again for his country. Now, as his United career has started to wind down, there could well be one last spark to reignite one of the most gifted footballers on these shores for a generation.

A move back to the club he loves makes perfect sense. He is wanted by Koeman whereas for Mourinho the player has become a distraction. The Portuguese is irked by reporters' questions about Rooney's future.

Everton are desperate to find some capable attacking support for Romelu Lukaku that wouldn't disrupt their playing system. Rooney could walk into the number 10 position tomorrow. Apologies if I sound like his agent, but it would be a waste to see Rooney move overseas to the inferior leagues of America or China.

He has so much talent still to offer. And many great careers have a swansong.

Think of Teddy Sheringham at Manchester United, Gary McAllister at Liverpool and Ruud Gullit at Chelsea to name but three. All those players made the sort of shot-to-nothing moves that brought out the best in them.

Rooney is of an age where he needs to find that spark again.

Everton can provide it.