Guardiola's Man City could match Barcelona - Rooney

Television viewers were treated to the rare sight of Wayne Rooney taking part in some punditry work on Monday evening.

The Everton forward joined Jamie Carragher in the Monday Night Football studio for Chelsea's trip to Vicarage Road to take on Watford.

Manchester United and England's record goalscorer reflected on his return to boyhood club Everton, playing with Cristiano Ronaldo at Manchester United and how their rivals Manchester City are closing on Pep Guardiola's formidable Barcelona.

Rooney on returning to Everton last summer:

‘I think it was the perfect move for me at this stage of my career. Everton was the right move, it just felt right and I always knew in the back of my head that I wanted to go back there. Although this season hasn’t gone to plan, I'm enjoying being back playing there and trying to help us get better.

‘Getting a good start was important because obviously I had to almost go and prove myself again so it was important I got off to a good start and the header against Stoke really settled everything down. It let me go and enjoy it a bit more rather than getting anxious about when the first goal was going to come.

‘The win over West Ham was a great night, my first hat-trick for Everton. We wanted to win the game for David Unsworth, because he did well and everyone knows he loves the club. We felt like we let him down a little bit with some of our performances, so for his last game to win 4-0 was great for him but for myself to get the hat-trick was a great feeling. I hit my third goal perfectly, I could try and hit it 100 times and not hit it as clean as I did.

‘We done well when Sam (Allardyce) came in, he got us back to basics, we were hard to beat and had some good results early on. Over the last few weeks we've not been so good but we’re still in a decent position in the league and now need to push on and put that Arsenal defeat behind us and climb a few places.

‘I said at half-time against Arsenal I was actually embarrassed sat on the bench because it wasn’t good enough for what we want. We had to go out second half and try and win it, show some pride in what we're trying to do and I felt we did that at times but the first half killed the game.

‘I think at the end of the day the managers pay the ultimate price, they get sacked and lose their jobs. But as players we have to take responsibility, we have to perform, managers can only do so much and as a group of players you need to go out on the pitch and make decisions and take ownership on the pitch. It isn’t nice when your manager gets sacked because you know you haven’t done your job properly and we have to try and make sure we don’t let that happen to Sam.

‘Something I naturally do anyway (talk in changing room) over the years. The manager obviously addresses the players but it is something I am comfortable doing. I've been around the game a long time so I'd like to think I know the right things to say in certain situations.

Rooney on Henrikh Mkhitaryan, Alexis Sanchez and Paul Pogba:

‘I think Mkhitaryan is in the right place now. I saw it last season in training, he's a very talented player and at Manchester United he didn’t get the freedom he really wanted to go and perform like he did at Borussia Dortmund. At Arsenal he’ll have players around him that are running off the ball and will take it off him and I think he’ll create and score goals and really kick on.

‘For me Sanchez is the perfect player for United. He's got aggression, passion, desire and you can see he’s a winner. That’s what they’ve lacked, players around Lukaku that are going to push Lukaku on and try and help him get a bit more freedom and score more goals. Sanchez will do that, they’re the players you want because they lift other players and give them an extra five per cent.

‘For me Pogba is a classic box to box player, he can do a bit of everything really well. If he has that freedom where he doesn’t have to think about defending then he can cause mayhem for teams, he’s so talented. At Juventus he had Pirlo alongside him and I think with Nemanja Matic and one other it will suit him better in a three.

‘I think with Jose Mourinho when he buys a player he plays them. Lukaku and Sanchez will play every game, there’s not room for other strikers to come in and not play.'

Rooney on Manchester City:

'In terms of catching Manchester City, I think certainly not this season and if I’m being perfectly honest it will be difficult next season because of how City are playing. They’re getting to the level of Barcelona four or five years ago.

‘Not nice to say but if you can’t enjoy that style of football then you won’t enjoy football. It is great to watch, the movement and courage they have on the ball. Its almost perfect football at times.

‘Pep Guardiola is putting the foundations in place trying to emulate that Barcelona team, you can see they're certainly on the way to doing that. One or two more players in the summer maybe but I don’t think they’re far off. Obviously they have to win the trophies, that's the main game. But in terms of how they’re playing and punishing teams, they’re not far away.

Rooney on himself, Cristiano Ronaldo and Carlos Tevez vs Mohamed Salah, Roberto Firmino and Sadio Mane:

'I think they’re very dangerous. They've got a lot of pace and Firmino works really hard in winning the ball back for Liverpool, which is what they want. As good as him and Mane are Salah pips them though because he takes them to the next level.

‘Sir Alex Ferguson used to say to us go and play and attack how you want but when you lose the ball then get back and help out. We had a good compromise because me and Tevez would probably do a lot more defensive work than Cristiano but we knew in the big games and moments he would win them.

‘With any other player we probably wouldn’t have done it but Cristiano was that good you have to accommodate that. I would gladly sacrifice goals any day of the week if he is going to help us win trophies.

‘I think it would be difficult to match us. The difference we had is obviously Premier league winners medals and we had real quality behind us who would support us in different ways and the defence was solid. For those three to get to that level they need that wall behind them to help them flourish a bit more.

Rooney on Harry Kane:

‘His mentality is fantastic, he's strong. He wants to score goals and win and at the moment he is probably the best striker in Europe. I think for Harry Kane, he can go where he wants to, he’s that good. He's almost like a young Alan Shearer, scoring different types of goal.

'The problem Tottenham will have is his motivation is going to change from goals to winning trophies. If Spurs can’t win trophies in the next few years then he’ll want to go elsewhere where he can. Goals are great and take you to a certain level but the top players are remembered for what they’ve won.

‘Trophies take you on to that next level, I think if Kane was in City’s team and was going to win the Premier League then people would be talking about Ronaldo, Messi and Kane.

‘I’ve played with him a few times for England, it hurts him when you don’t win and you can’t say that about all the players. He’s the natural leader in that England team now and if you have to name a captain then he really has to wear the armband. If England are to do well this summer than it depends how Kane does.'

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