Ferguson says that Everton pulled out all the stops to prevent Rooney joining United in 2004, including an emotional phone-call from the player's mother.
"After we gave them our final offer, (Everton manager Bill) Kenwright got Rooney's mother on the phone and she told me, 'you are not going to steal my boy'," writes Ferguson, who is now a United director.
Other revelations in the book include the disclosure that Ferguson considered a move for wayward Italy striker Mario Balotelli in 2010, only to be dissuaded by his contacts in Italy. "In 2010, I briefly flirted with the idea of signing Mario Balotelli, the talented but controversial Italian striker," Ferguson says.
"I did my homework on him, speaking to a few Italian contacts, but the feedback I got confirmed it was too big a risk."
The Scot said he had also lined up Pep Guardiola as his potential successor but he didn't call him before taking the Bayern Munich job.
After Guardiola left Barcelona in mid-2012, Ferguson had dinner with the former Barcelona coach in New York but there was no "direct proposal" for the Spaniard to one day take over at United.
"I asked Pep to phone me before he accepted an offer from another club but he didn't and wound up joining Bayern Munich in July 2013.
"It became apparent that Jose Mourinho had given his word to Roman Abramovich that he would return to Chelsea, and that Carlo Ancelotti would succeed him at Real Madrid.
"We also knew Juergen Klopp was happy at Borussia Dortmund, and would be signing a new contract. Meantime, Louis van Gaal had undertaken to lead the Dutch attempt to win the 2014 World Cup."
Van Gaal did eventually take charge at Old Trafford after the World Cup, replacing Moyes after the Scot failed to qualify United for the Champions League with a squad that had won the Premier League by 11 points in Ferguson's final season.
-AAP
