Wayne Rooney has claimed Farhad Moshiri was behind his Everton exit.
Rooney sealed a move to MLS side DC United during the summer, less than 12 months after agreeing to return to Goodison Park in a two-year deal.
The former England captain enjoyed an impressive start to his second spell with the Blues, scoring 11 times before the season’s midway point.
But Rooney alleges that Moshiri, who recently increased his shareholding as Everton’s majority investor, was behind his subsequent Stateside move.
“I think it was the owner’s decision,” he told the Daily Mail.
“He obviously knew he was going to bring a lot of players in and I was still on quite a bit of money at Everton and he wanted to free the money up.
“I was made aware of interest from DC and I saw an article in the newspaper about it and I started to think: ‘What’s going on here? Is there something being said?’
“So I went in to see Sam Allardyce and said: ‘Listen I’m not a kid. What’s going on? Do you want me here or not?’
“To be fair to Sam he was probably the honest one.
“He said if he was still there next season I mightn’t play as much but he still wanted me to be here and be a big part of things.
“Then he said: ‘But I’m not sure the owner has the same opinion.’
“Trying to get an honest answer out of the owner took three months. I kept trying and trying. All I wanted was clarity.
“There were some positives: my four children seeing me play for Everton.
“Even though my youngest two won’t remember, we still have the pictures to look back on when they’re older of me at Goodison.
“There was scoring at Anfield for Everton, scoring my first hat-trick for Everton. But I was just left a bit sad.
“It ended badly at 18 when I left the first time. I was a kid and you say things and do things that you don’t really understand.
“But this time, being a bit older and a bit wiser I was only asking for a bit of honesty and that never really seemed to come, except from Sam Allardyce.”