Former Manchester United star Wayne Rooney opens up on binge drinking battle

Former Manchester United striker Wayne Rooney has admitted that he battled with binge-drinking during his playing career in an attempt to take his mind off issues he was facing.

Rooney, who is currently leading Derby County's admirable fight to stay in the Championship this season, has addressed his former binge drinking problems ahead of the release of the Amazon Prime Video documentary 'Rooney'.

The Rams boss — who scored 253 goals in 559 appearances for United, helping them win five Premier League titles during that time — joined the club from Everton in 2004 as an 18year-old.

Now looking to strive and succeed in management at Derby, Rooney has opened up on his previous battles, pointing out how big a challenge he faced in dealing with pressure during his younger days.

"I had made a lot of mistakes when I was younger, some in the press and some not in the press, whether that's fighting or whatever," Rooney told the Mail on Sunday.

"For me to deal with that, deal with stuff that was in the newspapers, deal with the manager at the time, deal with family at the time, was very difficult.

"In my early years at Manchester United, probably until we had my first son, Kai, I locked myself away really. I never went out.

"There were times you'd get a couple of days off from football and I would actually lock myself away and just drink, to try to take all that away from my mind.

"Locking myself away made me forget some of the issues I was dealing with. It was like a binge."

On the nature of those pressures, the former England captain continued: "It was just a build-up of everything, pressure of playing for your country, playing for Manchester United, the pressure of some of the stuff which came out in the newspapers about my