Manchester United captain Wayne Rooney taking his seven-year-old son Kai for training sessions at Manchester City
Heads turn as United captain surprisingly brings his lad to Under 7s sessions at the City Football Academy
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KAI ROONEY, eldest son of Wayne and Coleen Rooney, is reportedly training with Manchester United's deadliest rivals Manchester City.
According to the , regular mums and dads involved with City's Under 7s squad have been surprised to see the United and England captain and his family turning up at the City Football Academy.
Since October Kai, seven, had been playing with United’s development team.
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But lately he has been been put through his paces on the opposite side of the city watched by his father and his grandfather, Wayne Snr.
Youngsters like Kai do not have a regular position and professional clubs keen for them to try different roles.
Most of them, apparently, want to be a centre forward...just like Wayne Rooney has been for most of his career with Everton and United.
But the main thing to is actually enjoy training, take on board all the tips they can and worry about which team to play for much later down the line.
Premier League clubs cannot officially sign players until the age of nine and it is common for youngsters to play for a number of academies before choosing a permanent club.
But that doesn’t stop clubs from moving quickly to invite young boys to come and train and use their facilities.
Competition between clubs is fierce and United are currently believed to be in the process of trying to lure two promising teenagers from City.
Even so, it is surprising to learn that United stalwart Rooney has allowed Kai to play with the Red Devils' noisy neighbours.
It will be interesting to see what the reaction of diehard United fans is.
Rooney, of course, may not be at Old Trafford for that much longer given his general lack of first-team opportunities this season. And he could be using this period to see how his son is coached and how good City’s facilities are.
And Kai is not the first United player whose children have trained at City’s training headquarters. Robin van Persie, Darren Fletcher and Phil Neville took their boys there as well.
Kai has been known to kick a ball on the Old Trafford pitch with his father after matches. He has also been a mascot for Rooney at United and when the England captain won his 100th international cap in November 2014.