LONDON • Wayne Rooney will find a livid Ronald Koeman waiting for him when he reports back at Everton today after being charged with drink-driving, but the English football club's failure to land another centre-forward during the transfer window may end up saving the player's bacon.
Everton manager Koeman did look into Rooney's off-field habits, and underlined his expectations about lifestyle and behaving as a role model, before sanctioning a deal to bring the forward back to Everton from Manchester United.
He is understood to feel let down by Rooney's arrest by Cheshire police in the early hours of Friday. He had told the 31-year-old forward that, despite his status, there are no exceptions to his rules.
On Saturday, probing tabloids cascaded Rooney's arrest into a real-life drama by also involving his pregnant wife Coleen and brunette office worker Laura Simpson.
Rooney had been driving Simpson's black soft-top Volkswagen Beetle - while she was a passenger - when he was pulled over.
The Sun reported that a furious four-month pregnant Coleen jetted in from Mallorca, where she had been on holiday with their three children, to confront her husband.
The 31-year-old was said by the Sun to be "livid and embarrassed", adding that Coleen went "berserk" after hearing the news.
The Daily Mail said the 29-year-old brunette who partied with Rooney before he drove her in her car admitted that she would have spent the night with the married football player.
Simpson, a single mother of one, told the Daily Mail that she and Rooney had not discussed whether they were going back to his mansion "but they wanted to be away from prying eyes".
She said: "I allowed him to drive my car, my black soft top, because I was too drunk to drive. Was I going to spend the night with him? Yes, perhaps, we hadn't really discussed it. We just wanted to be away from all those prying eyes."
Simpson said she was on a night out with friends at a cocktail bar called Bubble Room in Cheshire in north-west England when she spotted Rooney.
She told the Daily Mail: "I'm a single girl and I'm allowed to have some fun. I was swept away with the moment but I wasn't awestruck.
"I'm not a marriage wrecker. It was all playful fun and I'd had loads to drink."
Rooney is likely to be fined heavily by Everton today and be given further blunt reminders by Koeman about his behaviour.
Everton play Tottenham at home on Saturday before facing Rooney's former club United, at Old Trafford on Sept 17.
The former England captain is due to appear in court in Stockport the following day.
THE TIMES, LONDON
