He makes the shock revelation in the Disney+ series The Real Rooneys during a visit to Auschwitz with wife Coleen and their two youngest sons 10-year-old Kit and Cass, eight.

“I recently found out my mum’s mum, me nan, her family was Polish Jews,” the former Manchester United striker said. “I’m Catholic but I’ve always asked questions like, ‘Why aren’t we Jewish?’.”

He then jokes that a spin-off series could be called Roo the Jew.

To read more on this story, subscribe to our new e-edition. Go to E-edition.jewishtelegraph.com.

If you have a story or an issue you want us to cover, let us know - in complete confidence - by contacting newsdesk@jewishtelegraph.com, 0161-741 2631 or via Facebook / Twitter