Coleen & Rooney's boys pull on the boxing gloves for a festive sparring session

Wayne Rooney suggested his own love for boxing extends to his four children after buying them their very own ring for Christmas.

Taking to Instagram, the Birmingham City manager's wife Coleen shared a photo of sons Kai, 13, Klay, 10, Kit, seven, and five-year old Cass fully kitted out in boxing gloves and shorts individually personalised with their names.

The four boys were pictured side by side after setting up the ring in their home gym, somewhat appropriately on Boxing Day.

Captioning the shot, Coleen, 37, wrote: 'Happy Boxing Day everyone! Not sure the ring was a good idea for Christmas. Hope everyone had a lovely day.'

The four boys appear to be following in the footsteps of their father, whose own love of the contact sport is well documented.

In 2015 the former Manchester United and England striker, 38, was knocked out cold by ex-teammate Phil Bardsley during a sparring session at Rooney's Cheshire mansion.

With only a small space in which to work in Rooney's lounge, the pair traded light blows for just under a minute before Bardsley, at the time a Stoke City player, sent Rooney reeling.

In video footage that was later obtained by The Sun, the former striker is filmed lying motionless under a chair for several seconds before the clip cuts out.

'Wayne had everybody worried when he hit the floor like that,' a source told the newspaper.

'He made such a thud when he went down and he was just on his back with his eyes closed, not moving.

'People were scared he had really banged his head and done some lasting damage. Everyone realised it was a stupid thing to do, but they just got carried away.'

Bardsley's wife, Real Housewives Of Cheshire star Tanya Bardsley, later hit back at the furore caused by the release of the video,