Yes, it sounds a little weird, but as part of Everton’s new shirt-sleeve sponsorship deal with the game developers Rovio, Wayne Rooney could become the latest special character in the next Angry Birds game to be released.

Everton recently signed a sleeve sponsorship deal with Rovio Entertainment – the gaming giant behind the popular Angry Birds franchise and debuted the logo on the left sleeve of the club’s jersey during their 4-0 defeat to Manchester United. Everton fans went out on social media to show their displeasure over the logo.

Now, with Everton’s partnership with the gaming giants, Wayne Rooney who returned to his boyhood club during the summer transfer window could be the next big name to feature in the Angry Birds game.

“We have a history of doing Angry Bird homages of real-life characters so obviously now we are in collaboration (with Everton) we can work together to bring interesting characters and profiles into the games,” said Ville Heijari, Rovio Entertainment’s chief marketing officer.

“Potentially Wayne Rooney would be involved. It is not just enough that we reach mobile players; we want to reach sports fans, television spectators, so it is a big audience we are going after.” he added.

Launched in 2009, five versions of the Angry Birds have been downloaded a total of 3.7billion times. The brand also has three billion YouTube views and 25million Facebook followers.

Over the years, Rooney has seen his ratings drop in the famous FIFA game, and with the release of the latest edition, FIFA 18, maybe the former Manchester United player can get some attention in another game.

The question though is what role Rooney would be playing exactly. The world needs to wait to find out.