Wayne Rooney's new job and drastic body transformation as BBC pundit returns after surgery

Wayne Rooney is back in the Match of the Day studio following a summer of changes. The former Manchester United star has gone under the knife and had a drastic physical transformation ahead of the 2026/27 Premier League season.

Rooney has also secured a new job working alongside United content creator Mark Goldbridge. But his first order of business will be to analyse the opening week of Premier League football alongside host Mark Chapman and fellow pundit Alan Shearer on Match of the Day .

The popular BBC programme returns on Saturday, August 22 at 10.20pm. Broadcast live on BBC One, the team of experts will highlight every game in the top flight, including United's trip to newly-promoted Hull City on Saturday afternoon.

Here, Mirror Football delves into Rooney's summer of transformations and his return to TV.

Fans spotted a major physical change in Rooney during his punditry work at the World Cup. As he appeared on the BBC throughout the tournament, viewers pointed out that the former England international had dropped a significant amount of weight.

Rooney also sported a clean-shaven look on the show. Fans took to social media to congratulate the ex-United man on his body transformation with one writing: "Is it me or does Rooney look noticeably thinner? Looks better clean-shaven, too."

Another noted: "Is it me or has Rooney lost weight? Good on ya fella." A third added: "Rooney must be working on his weight," while one stated: "Rooney looking proper healthy and noticeably lost loads of weight. Great to see."

Rooney is also co-hosting a new show alongside influencer Goldbridge that is dedicated to all things United. They have debuted the new programme, called Stick to United with Wayne Rooney , which is live under Gary Neville's Overlap branding.

Sky has upgraded its Ultimate TV and Sky Sports bundle to now include HBO Max, Netflix, Disney+, discovery+ and Hayu, as well as 135 channels and full Sky coverage of the Premier League and EFL.

Sky broadcasts more than 1,400 live matches across the Premier League, EFL and more with at least 215 live from the top flight alongside Formula 1, darts and golf.

Neville paid a seven-figure sum to buy Goldbridge's YouTube channels in April, bringing The United Stand and That's Football into his ever-growing network. This show has been created as part of a distribution deal with Disney+ which will broadcast 50 Stick to United and 40 Stick to Football episodes this season.

The Overlap was founded by Neville in 2021 and it has grown into an entire web of different sports including rugby and cricket . Highlighting Rooney and Goldbridge's new show, the former United defender says that it "expands our reach without compromising our identity."

Rooney also went under the knife this summer to fix a broken nose that he's had for almost a decade. The Old Trafford hero discussed his surgery in the first episode of Stick to United after he refused to have the broken bone treated for years.

He said: "I had surgery on my nose last week. I'm actually really lucky I've got no black eyes. But I've still got two plastic tubes up my nose which are coming out very soon. I can't wait for them to come out.