Wayne Rooney signed deal 'without explanation'

FOOTBALLER Wayne Rooney signed his first professional contract without having it fully explained to him by his agent, a court has heard.

Having turned 17, Rooney went from an 80-a-week trainee to signing his first professional contract with Everton in January 2003. But his agent Paul Stretford, in an "extraordinary" revelation, allegedly did not take the youngster, or the boy's father, fully through the contract.

Rooney, his wife Coleen and Stretford are being sued by sports management firm Proactive in a row over commission on deals brokered by Mr Stretford while he was a director at Proactive, of which he was a founding partner. These involve multimillion pound agreements by the player and his wife to endorse products and firms including Coca-Cola, Asda and Nike.

But no commission payments have been paid since Mr Stretford left Proactive in acrimony in October 2008. Proactive claims that, under the terms of the contract Mr Stretford signed with the Rooneys, it is still due the commission payments – now amounting to a minimum of 4.3 million.

Yesterday, Mr Stretford was questioned by Ian Mill QC, acting for Proactive, about the football contracts, involving transfer payments, earnings from image rights and sponsorships, signed by Rooney after he turned 17.

Mr Stretford said there were "countless negotiations" and not the time to go through every single clause in every document.

Rooney, his mother, father and wife are scheduled to give evidence at Manchester Mercantile Court tomorrow.