Rooney: I'm lucky

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The 28-year-old "died" for 30 seconds after being given an anaesthetic as doctors prepared to correct minor knee cartilage damage, and only the timely intervention of operating theatre staff averted tragedy.

"I feel incredibly lucky to be here," the father-of-two told the Yorkshire Evening Post. "It was just supposed to be an operation to clear out my knee but five minutes after going under my heart stopped. I was told that they couldn't get it going again for 30 seconds and they had a real job resuscitating me before bringing me round from the anaesthetic."

He added: "When I came to I just assumed I'd had the op and everything would be all right. I couldn't believe it when they explained what had happened. It was all a bit of a shock."

Rooney said the surgeon in the Manchester clinic told him he had never come across a similar case in his 22 years in the job and was mystified by what had caused his heart to stop during the procedure.

"I have to have a lot of tests now which means I'm not going to be able to play for six or seven weeks," he said.

Rooney admitted the incident brought into focus the sudden death of team-mate Adam Watene, who suffered a massive heart attack while working out in a city centre gym last October.

"The club could have gone into the match at Wigan mourning two players, not one," said Rooney. "That would have been devastating."