‘I learnt from Kevin De Bruyne and Wayne Rooney but now I’m at Ryan Reynolds’ Wrexham’
Wrexham midfielder gained experience next to some big name stars at Manchester City and has also credited Manchester United legend Wayne Rooney for aiding his career.
A midfielder who once played alongside Kevin De Bruyne and was managed by Wayne Rooney is now starring for Wrexham in League One.
George Evans was seen as a bright prospect at Manchester City at the start of his career after first joining the club as a six-year-old in 2001. Following a 14-year journey, Evans made his senior debut for City after being introduced as a late substitute in a 4-1 League Cup win over Sunderland in 2015.
Then aged 20, he made his bow in a team featuring big name stars like De Bruyne, Sergio Aguero and Raheem Sterling. The outing made Evans only the second player to have represented every single age group at City, from the academy through to the first-team.
Unfortunately, it turned out to be his one and only appearance for his boyhood team. However, Evans has since revealed how learning from some of the best players in the world helped to shape the rest of his career before eventually joining Wrexham, owned by Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney, in 2023.
“As a young lad coming through an academy, especially at a team like Man City, you start training with the first team and it’s a bit surreal at the start,” Evans told the Southwark News. “You’re a young lad training with the best players.
“But you want to adapt and learn as much as you can and progress your game. It’s better to learn from the likes of Kevin De Bruyne. It was a great opportunity for me and I think that was a good starting point in my career, I learned so much at such a young age being around players like that.
“Being amongst them every day, talking to them, watching the extra yards they put in even when they were reaching the top of the game is something that I’ve taken with me throughout my career. It was a good squad. They had a good English core, with Joe Hart and James Milner. They were quite easy to talk to.”
Evans was sent out on loan on several occasions during his time at City, starring for Crewe Alexandra, Scunthorpe United and Walsall. He said the experience gave him the taste for regular first team football, and he eventually left the Etihad in 2016 to join then-Championship club Reading.
His impressive performances during his 18-month spell with the Royals earned him a move to Derby County in July 2018, where he played under Frank Lampard, Phillip Cocu and later Wayne Rooney. Evans then switched to Millwall in 2021, making more than 40 Championship appearances over two seasons before joining Wrexham.
He arrived at the Racecourse in September 2023, making 27 league appearances in his first campaign to help the Red Dragons achieve promotion to League One at the first time of asking. Wrexham can partly thank Rooney for inspiring Evans to success after he spoke highly of the Manchester United legend’s managerial abilities.
“He’s fantastic and I can’t speak highly enough of him,” he said. “I’ve got nothing but good words to say about him and I think he’s going to be a great manager.
“He’s had the best career, we watched him as kids growing up and who better to learn from. In terms of man-management he’s a great guy. He’ll tell you what you’re doing well and what you need to improve on. He was very clear in his messages to me and I found that really good.”
