Barnsley have taken Manchester United and England's Wayne Rooney's brother on trial with the view to a permanent move.
21 year old John started his career at Everton like his older sibling, but whilst Wayne hit super stardom with a long range winner against Arsenal in 2002, John failed to make an appearance for the Merseyside outfit and left for Macclesfield the same year as Wayne hit the headlines.
The youngest of three brothers- middle sibling Graham is an amateur footballer and actor- John spent six years at Moss Rose scoring four times in 41 games before leaving to try his luck in America.
The striker has since appeared for New York Red Bulls and Orlando Pirates but is looking to continue his career back in his homeland.
Reds boss Keith Hill told the Star:
“He’s got talent, we're waiting for international clearance,”
Hill has though failed in an attempt to sign Doncaster Rovers midfielder Martin Woods on loan.
The 26 year old has been an integral part of the Rovers team since they pipped Barnsley to his signature from Rotherham United in the summer of 2007 and he has started all four of their League One matches this campaign.
Hill had hoped to lure the former Leeds trainee to Oakwell with Championship football but Doncaster boss Dean Saunders would not entertain the idea.
Hill said:
“I wanted to sign Martin Woods but Dean Saunders didn’t want to let him go out on loan. We tried to get him but Dean was quite right to keep him because he’s still part of his plans.
“We made an enquiry because we do need a midfielder with the injuries we’ve got, but unfortunately nothing came of it.
“We’ve been looking for a midfielder with Bobby and Perks both out, but we’ve got other options and we’ll find a solution.
“We made enquiries about a couple more players, but nothing happened there."
| John Rooney (Unknown/Unattached) information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Date of birth | Monday, 17th December 1990 | Height | |
| Place of birth | Liverpool, England | Weight | |
| International | Position | Midfielder | |
| Comments | Squad No. | 14 | |
| Recent career history by club (1999 onwards) | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Team | Debut | Apps (+ sub) | Goals | Yellows | Reds |
| Macclesfield Town | 24 Mar 2008 | 27 (19) | 4 | 3 | 0 |
| Recent career history by season (1999 onwards) | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Season | First App. | Apps (+ sub) | Goals | Yellows | Reds |
| 2009/2010 | 08 Aug 2009 | 16 (12) | 2 | 2 | 0 |
| 2008/2009 | 27 Aug 2008 | 10 (6) | 2 | 1 | 0 |
| 2007/2008 | 24 Mar 2008 | 1 (1) | 0 | 0 | 0 |