Wayne Rooney has revealed he fell out with Everton manager David Moyes before he left the Toffees to join Manchester United in a deal worth £27m in 2004.
The 20-year-old England striker said the row meant he considered an offer from Newcastle before moving to United.
"I would have gone almost anywhere just to get away from David Moyes," Rooney said in his autobiography, which is being serialised in the Daily Mail.
"To me, he appeared overbearing; just wanting to control people."
He added: "I suppose being young and confident and playing for England at 17, I wasn't bothered about upsetting him or answering back."
Rooney claims he had already decided to leave Goodison Park when he had a training ground confrontation with Moyes and told him: "I don't want to play for you ever again."
The striker became the youngest Premiership goalscorer when he scored a blistering last-minute strike to secure a 2-1 win against Arsenal in October 2002, five days before his 17th birthday.
He went on to score 17 goals in 77 appearances for the Toffees before securing his move to United in August 2004.
Newcastle made the first offer for Rooney but he says he was only interested in a move to Old Trafford once it became apparent United boss Sir Alex Ferguson wanted to sign him.
"If no-one else had come in I would have gone to Newcastle," stated Rooney.
"But I knew that United was the club I wanted to join."