I was watching Corrie when Scholes called about Man Utd move - Rooney

Wayne Rooney received a surprising phone call enticing him to join Manchester United when he was a teenager - from Paul Scholes.

Speaking on the latest episode of his podcast The Wayne Rooney Show, the former England captain spoke about the process of joining United, why he nearly went to Newcastle and receiving interest from abroad.

"While I was still at Everton, I was sat at home one night and watching Coronation Street and my house phone rings. So I answered it, it's Paul Scholes," he said. "Like, 'Wazza, it's Scholesy… are you going to sign for us or what?' I was just sat there, I was like: What's going on here?"

Rooney joined Manchester United from Everton in 2004 when he was 18, but he says manager Sir Alex Ferguson would ideally have waited longer to recruit him.

The Red Devils had to move quickly, though, to prevent him joining Newcastle instead.

"I think, if I'm being honest, that Alex Ferguson wanted to wait another year. And then Newcastle kept coming in and I would have gone to Newcastle if United didn't sign me then," he said.

"It got to the last day and then [Everton chairman] Bill Kenwright wouldn't send the forms over. And Bill, God rest him, was very emotional. And I'm a local lad from Liverpool playing for Everton. It was massive. And he actually got on the phone, put his mum on the phone to me when I was at Old Trafford, then he got on the phone and he was crying down the phone."

Rooney joined United on transfer deadline day, with the deal coming so quickly that he ended up wearing his wife Coleen's cousin's jumper when he made the move.

"I was quite chilled and there was a lot of press trying to follow me around and stuff," Rooney said.

"I was actually staying in Coleen's uncle's in Liverpool. And the night before deadline day, we sat in, we had a Chinese, a few glasses of wine and then I actually had no clothes there.

"So, the jumper that I signed for Manchester United in was Coleen's cousin's jumper! So yeah, it shows how prepared I was for it."

Not only were Newcastle also interested in Rooney, he was also close to a move to Chelsea.

But there was a dealbreaker in the terms - he would have been sent out on loan to Middlesbrough.

He said he thought Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich wanted him to work under Middlesbrough boss Steve McLaren.

"When we were at the Euros at Euro 2004, Everton had agreed a deal with Chelsea for me to sign for them and I had no knowledge of that whatsoever.

"And then my agent then went and spoke to Abramovich and their team basically and they said, yeah, they wanted to sign me, then send me out on loan to Middlesbrough. It was like, no chance!

"To be honest, me going to London at that time, it just didn't make sense at all. So, the minute I knew Manchester United were interested in me that was the only place I was going to go, really."

Chelsea tried to sign Rooney from United in 2013, including Fernando Torres and Ramires in their offer, but weren't able to meet the asking price. Rooney said he was "very close" to joining Mourinho's side.

"I think they said to Chelsea that they wanted £44m for me and Chelsea didn't get to the £44m. And then I think they were offering Torres and Ramires as well as money to Manchester United and they didn't take it. But that was quite close. I spoke to Jose a few times."

Since retiring, Rooney has managed Derby County, DC United, Birmingham City and Plymouth Argyle.

While doing his coaching badges he faced an entirely different challenge to what he had dealt with as a player - having to perform a rendition of a song from Les Miserables alongside his coursemates and the cast.

They had brought in the cast of Les Miserables to talk about the challenges of being in a musical and how they deal with recruitment for shows.

"At the end, you've got to actually learn the song and dance and do it," he recalled.

"It's to put you in an uncomfortable position. Jonathan Woodgate was next to me, he was loving it! You're working together, so it's the song in Les Mis, At The End Of The Day… and we're all like creeping forward, it was terrible!

"I like musicals but not playing them - I like watching them."

Watch the Wayne Rooney Show on BBC Sport YouTube, external, and iPlayer. Listen on BBC Sounds.