Wayne Rooney/import

= = Despite a disappointing World Cup in South Africa, Rooney is still undoubtedly viewed as one of the best players in the world. The Manchester United striker has been firmly in the spotlight since first breaking into the England side aged 17 and has the potential to stay at the top of the game for years to come.

Having worked his way through the Everton academy, a 16-year-old Rooney shot to the world's attention with a stunning goal against Arsenal in 2002 and showed skill beyond his years before Manchester United signed him for around £30 million after the 2004 European Championships - in which he had played a starring role.

The powerful frontman made an immediate impact with a hat-trick on his debut - a Champions League victory over Fenerbache in September 2004 - and went on to help United to three straight Premier League titles between 2006-2009, while also collecting numerous personal awards.

The 2009-10 season represented the pinnacle of Rooney's goalscoring career to date, as he plundered 34 goals in 42 games in all competitions for United. Cristiano Ronaldo's departure to Real Madrid allowed Rooney to flourish as he became the focal point of the Old Trafford attack, and he spearheaded United's forward line in style. Rooney scored the winning goal in the 2010 Carling Cup final and though United missed out on domestic and European glory, he was rewarded for an impressive campaign with the PFA Players' Player of the Year Award.

In September 2008, Rooney became the youngest player in league history to make 200 appearances but after poor form and a tabloid scandal after the 2010 World Cup, he admitted he wanted to leave Manchester United. It took just three days for him to perform a U-turn though, committing his future to the club until 2015 amid a media melee, and sealing another title at the end of the season.

Strengths: Powerful and strong on the ball, Rooney's ability to pick a pass, shoot from distance and unselfishly work for the team is unparalleled in world football. His passion can never been called into question.

Weaknesses: He suffers when the red mist descends and has a propensity to lose his cool in key games. Sometimes an impetuous customer, prone to easy frustration.

Career high: His stunning debut hat-trick for Manchester United is a strong contender, but it cannot top being named as the best player in the country by his fellow professionals, as he scooped the PFA Players' Player of the Year Award in for the 2009-10 season.

Career low: Being sent off against Portugal in the 2006 World Cup for stamping on a rather delicate area of Ricardo Carvalho's, after working so hard to be fit for the tournament following a metatarsal injury.

Style: Powerful, hard-working, passionate; an unselfish superstar.

Quotes: "We all know football players at the top level are blessed with high wages, it's no secret. But Rooney would play for 100 euros-a-week. You can see the fire in his eyes. It's that fire which makes him the best of the best." 2009 World Player of the Year Lionel Messi praises Rooney's passion.

Trivia: Rooney has "Just Enough Education To Perform" tattooed on his right forearm. The line is the title of an album by his favourite band, The Stereophonics.

CLUB CAREER
Rooney worth the fight

Wayne Rooney was at the centre of a £27m transfer battle between two of football's elder statesmen - at the tender age of 18 and with his football career in its infancy.

Manchester United's Sir Alex Ferguson and his fellow knight and one-time Newcastle counterpart Sir Bobby Robson have seen everything in long and distinguished careers.

But they have rarely witnessed a talent like Everton's 18-year-old genius Rooney, who confirmed his wish to depart Goodison Park by handing in a written transfer request on Friday.

And that is why they were willing to put all footballing and financial logic to one side and make Rooney the most expensive teenager in British football history.

So what is it that makes Rooney so special, and worth the very public multi-million pound scramble?

And why was Ferguson so determined to win the battle?

The attributes have always been in place, and flourished under the guidance of Everton manager David Moyes.

A freakishly powerful frame for one so young, a nerveless and fearless outlook, a fierce shot and a maverick streak that gave him a flair for the outrageous and unexpected.

Rooney made his debut as a 16-year-old on the opening day of the 2002/03 against Spurs - but burst on to the national consciousness on 19 October 2002.

He scored a now famous 25-yard winner in the last minute as Everton ended Arsenal's 30-match unbeaten run with a 2-1 victory.

Rooney then became England's youngest player and goalscorer, although his form was mixed last season in a struggling Everton side.

Indeed he went into Euro 2004 with question marks surrounding his weight and fitness - questions he answered so spectacularly that it effectively set the ground for the current bidding war.

The highest stage in European football held no terrors as he roughed up France hard man Lilian Thuram, then scored twice in wins against Switzerland and Croatia.

England was in the grip of "Roomania" - while Everton feared his feats were forcing him further away from the club he supported as a boy.

Rooney's Euro 2004 ended prematurely with a broken foot against Portugal, but by then he had erased any doubts about his world-class quality.

Lurid allegations about his private life have tarnished Rooney's image, but his football pedigree outweighs that in the mind of Ferguson.

Manchester United felt they could wait until next summer before signing Rooney at a relatively knockdown price, but Newcastle's dramatic intervention forced their hand.

Ferguson simply felt he could not allow Rooney to move elsewhere, a testimony to his importance in the future Old Trafford strategy.

Now Sir Alex has got his man in a transfer valued at an initial £20m. Only time will tell whether Rooney will prove his worth.

By Phil McNulty (Chief football writer) (31 August 2004) Profile: Wayne Rooney: The Bash Street kid is ready to take on the world

The little Liverpool lass and former frump turned fashion icon who opens her heart in Coleen’s Secrets on television tonight will shock a nation with the news that her boyfriend’s favourite food is lettuce. You can take this healthy eating lark too far.

English sporting heroes are meat and two veg men: they have to be to carry the weight of expectation that at times like this descends on their shoulders, especially if they are freckle-faced and look like Smiffy.

There is only one question about Coleen’s boyfriend to which England wants the answer: will it be Wayne’s World Cup? The idea that the Bash Street Kid wonder barely out of his teens could be the driving force that finally banishes 40 years of hurt is a fairy story that we want to believe, even if it’s starring Shrek.

They call him Roonaldo (better than Ronaldo), Wazza (sounds like Gazza) and Kanga-Roo: plain Wayne will be awaited in Germany next summer with a level of fearful anticipation not known since Hannibal crossed the Alps. He has even been blessed by the Hand of God itself, with Diego Maradona bestowing the ultimate accolade, calling him “the new me”.

The nation that forgave him rubber-clad romps with hookers will not forgive him if he and his team-mates return empty-handed from Germany. Never in the course of human history has so much been expected by so many of so few: such a well-paid few at that. Rooney recently romped home at 20th in the rich list of Premiership football players with £8m to his name (almost enough to meet Coleen’s shopping bills), well behind England captain David Beckham’s estimated £75m. By the time Rooney is 30 he could be worth £100m but meanwhile he is the all-round football phenomenon that the rest of them — and us — are banking on.

It really is the Roy of the Rovers success story that generations of Boy’s Own readers were nurtured on. Born and bred in Croxteth, a working-class Liverpool suburb, he was brought up by mum and dad Wayne and Jeanette (Harry Enfield, eat your heart out) in a three-bedroom council house with his two younger brothers Graham and John. His mum was a dinner lady in the local school. The family were blue-blooded Everton fans and Wayne’s bedroom window was filled with the club’s pennants, so the joy was unbounded when at just age nine, playing for Copplehouse boys’ club in the local Walton and Kirkdale junior league, he was spotted by Everton scout Bob Pendleton.

In his last season with Copplehouse before joining the Everton academy he scored 99 goals. His first Premiership appearance on the pitch at Goodison Park was in a derby against Liverpool at the tender age of 11 as the team mascot. He did not have long to wait for the real thing: at 14 he was in Everton’s under-19 team. Little over two years later he was in the Premiership for real, playing against Tottenham Hotspur. He scored his first top-flight goal just five days short of his 17th birthday, against Arsenal no less.

Such precocious talent could hardly go unnoticed. Just four months later he made his debut for England as the national team’s youngest player, even if it was an inauspicious start: a 3-1 drubbing in a friendly against Australia in the one sport that the antipodeans were used to losing.

Rooney quickly showed his real worth against Macedonia in the Euro 2004 qualifier in Skopje in September 2003 with a goal that not only made him the team’s youngest scorer — at 17 years and 317 days — but also clinched the game and ensured England’s path to the finals and his own ascent to international stardom.

His performance in the Euro 2004 finals in Portugal was compared optimistically, if not accurately, to Pele and Best. But he was still the star of the show, the second youngest player in the tournament with a brace of goals each against Switzerland and Croatia. The crunching tackle that caused Rooney to limp off after just 23 minutes of the game against Portugal with a broken metatarsal also put the boot into England’s chances of progressing any further. An outrageously disallowed goal — that won Urs Meier, the Swiss referee, e-mail death threats — left the nation facing the familiar torture of a doomed penalty shoot-out.

The foot injury also delayed what the boy wonder’s local fans regarded as the ultimate act of betrayal when he abandoned Everton to sign for Manchester United on the final day of the transfer window.

The decision to skip town was aided by the unwelcome publicity over his backstreet bordello antics, which also required a public apology to the wounded Coleen who took her revenge on his credit card.

Yet for all his rapid rise to fame, fortune and scandalous slip-ups, there is something attractively down-to-earth about Rooney — an in-your-face scouse teenager aspect. He enjoys rap music — one of his ambitions is to see Eminem live — calls his dogs Fizz and Bella after characters in the children’s TV show Tweenies, enjoys walking them on the beach and still has his mates, who include a painter and a decorator, Everton and Liverpool fans respectively, round to stay. He was nervous the first time he met his England team-mate’s missus, whom he still thought of as Posh Spice.

Stardom has brought him famous friends. James Bourne of Busted was at his 18th birthday party and they competed to see who could do the best robot dance; Rooney claimed to be “miles better” before going to sing a karaoke version of Oasis’s Champagne Supernova. He also fancies himself, improbably, at impersonating Michael Jackson’s moonwalk dance.

His idea of a romantic dinner was one he organised when Coleen was “having one of those long girlie chats on the phone”: he laid the table with candles and roses, then nipped out to fetch a Chinese takeaway.

He insists that his nickname Wazza is what every kid called Wayne in Liverpool gets called: “It’s got nothing to do with Gazza.” It’s hard to imagine Wazza blubbing on the pitch but he shares that faded England legend’s intense passion for the game that occasionally erupts in a temper which he struggles to control. Both Sven-Goran Eriksson and Sir Alex Ferguson have said they don’t want to put out the fire. England needs to keep it burning.

Rooney says his move to United has been good for his physique because of a better diet — there’s the lettuce again — and concentrated training: he cites departed captain Roy Keane, with Ryan Giggs. as inspirational. Only Rooney, however, has the talent to take a turn at every position on the pitch, including goalkeeping.

He has engagingly not yet outgrown his sense of wonder at where he is. As a boy his favourite player was Everton’s Duncan Ferguson and he was stunned to find himself playing alongside someone whose picture was on his bedroom wall. He used to pretend he was Michael Owen when he was playing in the streets of Croxteth long before the pair became a partnership. The power of that partnership was proved in last month’s “not-so-friendly” against Argentina when Rooney’s goal and the pair by Owen to which he contributed turned the game around to send their bitter rivals home with their reputation badly dented. If Rooney’s performance for United has not seen quite the same rewards, the fault lies further back down the pitch rather than with him and his club partner Ruud van Nistelrooy.

The Dutchman has come back from a bad patch to be the Premiership’s top scorer this season and Rooney and Co know only too well that meeting him and his unluckily unseeded compatriots will not be easy at any stage of the competition.

At least England face a relatively lucky group stage when they play Trinidad and Tobago and Paraguay, although there is the piquancy of Sven’s men having to deal with Sweden, not just the manager’s home side but a team they haven’t beaten in 37 years. To his credit Erikkson says he is looking forward to breaking the duck.

Apart from Brazil, the current holders, England face tough competition from the other seven seeds once (surely not if?) they get past the group stage, including an Argentina out for revenge and Germans who would love to overturn the ignominious Owen-driven 5-1 four years ago, when Rooney was still a twinkle in Everton’s eye.

But they don’t have Rooney. We do. And we don’t think it’s all over. Not by a long shot.

From The Sunday Times (December 11, 2005)

INTERNATIONAL CAREER
= PERSONAL LIFE = Wayne Rooney, Manchester United’s current holder of the No.10 shirt reveals why it was such an honour to be given the number, his hopes for the season and why it’s always worth asking...

Why did you change your number this season – were you offered the No.10 shirt?

When Ruud (van Nistelrooy) left and no-one took it the following season I asked the manager and David Gill if I could have the shirt. I had to wait a year until the new kit came out [at the start of this season], but as soon as that happened I was given the shirt which was great. Ten has always been my favourite number.

Did you know much about the history behind the shirt at United – Denis Law, Mark Hughes and Ruud, of course, are all former holders…

They were all great players who scored so many goals for the club so I knew what a big number it was for me to take. But that great history makes wearing the shirt feel even better and also makes it more of a challenge to succeed. I always keep my first shirt of every new season so I’ve got the first no.10 one I wore against [[Chelsea F.C.|Chelsea] (in the Community Shield) up at home.

It’s also an iconic shirt throughout world football – Puskas, Pele, Platini, Maradona, Baggio, Zidane and now Ronaldinho have all worn it – was that in your mind too?

Yeah, it’s definitely been an important number down the years. It’s probably more of a traditional number in South America for the best players to wear no.10 compared to here and when you look at the players who have worn it, it feels great to have the number. Hopefully when I’ve finished people will look back and say the same thing about me.

Have you got a favourite No.10 that you used to watch as a youngster?

Not really. Duncan Ferguson was obviously a big hero of mine but he was no.9 when I was a kid. He did switch to no.10 when I broke into the team at Everton though. Michael Owen is probably the no.10 I remember watching the most. Even though he played for Liverpool, I still always enjoyed watching him.

What have you seen of Pele in action?

I’ve watched a lot of videos of him and you can see what a brilliant footballer he was. He had two great feet, was strong in the air and also a very good athlete. He’s rightly up there as one of the best players of all time.

What about Maradona – did he have everything as a player?

Yeah, I think so. He’s definitely the best player there’s ever been in my eyes. He had pace, great skill and an unbelievable desire to win.

He said at the end of last year that he believes you have a strong claim to be the best footballer in the world – do compliments like that inspire you as a player?

It’s amazing to hear nice comments from anyone, but particularly from someone like Maradona. It gives you great confidence to go out there and try and be as good as them.

'''Denis Law is obviously a famous no.10 at United. It must have been nice to be presented with your new shirt by him?'''

It was fantastic. He was an unbelievable player, who scored so many goals for the club and for him to hand the shirt over to me was a real honour. He was a player who could score any kind of goal. He wasn’t the tallest but he was very good in the air. He was also a very brave player and a real goal poacher inside the box.

He said recently that he believes you, Ronaldo and Tevez can form a new holy trinity at United… Really? I hadn’t heard that! If we can get anywhere near that then it would be amazing. It’s great to hear things like that, but the likes of myself, Ronaldo and Carlos will tend to get more of the praise as we score the goals. The three of us know the importance of the other lads in the side and the part they play in helping the team be successful, so it’s not just about the players who score the goals.

And Zinedine Zidane – is he the best there’s been over the last decade?

Yes, definitely. I was lucky enough to play against him at Euro 2004 and I remember when we were lining up in the tunnel looking over at him and thinking ‘wow.’ It was mad. I remember the game well. We’d gone 1-0 up and done pretty well, but ended up conceding two in the dying seconds, both of which Zidane scored. The first was a free-kick – I remember being sat on the bench (after being substituted) at the time thinking he was going to score when he was lining it up. I just had a feeling about it. France then got a penalty in injury time and he held his nerve to put it away. Those kinds of moments are what set the top players apart from the rest. It was sickening for us to lose so late, but for me personally it was an experience which I learnt from and which gave me the confidence to believe I could play against the best.

Your first goal in the no.10 shirt came against Roma in October – what do you remember about the goal?

It was similar to the second one I scored against AC Milan last season. I hit it early, made good contact and thankfully it went into the far corner. It was a relief to get that first goal because I’d missed the first few games of the season with my broken foot. It was even more pleasing that it came in such an important game.

What’s your favourite goal that you’ve scored in the shirt so far?

(Long pause) Probably my one against Arsenal, which the dubious goals’ panel might try and take off me! Other than that, I’d say my second goal against Aston Villa at Villa Park. It was a good move, a nice ball from Tevez and I managed to slot it home.

As a goalscorer you always remember all your goals. As soon as someone mentions a certain game to you in which you scored you can see the goal immediately in your mind. Hopefully, there will be a few more to come between now and the end of the season.

How do you feel you’re developing as a striker – would you liken yourself to any of the aforementioned front men?

Not really. I think it’s difficult for you to compare yourself to someone else, but I certainly hope I can become as good as them. I’ve definitely changed the way I play this season in the fact that I’ve played further up front rather than in behind a main striker; that’s something Carlos has done. I’d probably say I’ve enjoyed that role more as you seem to get more chances and hopefully that means I’ll end up with more goals.

Aside from injuries, has the season gone better than you had hoped for or were you expecting more?

It’s been very much stop-start for me to be honest. Obviously I broke my foot in the first league game of the season and then came back and went on a good run. I then injured my ankle and came back again. Hopefully I can have a good run in the side now and keep scoring goals. We’ve got ourselves into a good position in the league. We had a poor start to the season and even after the first month or so I think we were all worried that we’d already dropped quite a few points. Since then we’ve done well. We’ve also seen that the other top teams around us like Arsenal and Liverpool can drop points as well, so that gives us confidence going into the second half of the campaign.

'''Did you feel you were in your best form ever during your run of eight goals in seven games during October and November? There were two goals for England slotted in there too…'''

I don’t think I was playing at my best, but in terms of goalscoring it was the best period of my career so far, which was pleasing. When you’re on a run like that you go into every game believing you’ll get chances and put them away.

How do you see the criticism you get when you’re not scoring – do you accept that it comes with the territory at a club like United?

Yeah. I think any forward accepts the fact that you’ll get criticism if you’re not scoring. You just have to get used to it and focus on your game.

Many people questioned your partnership with Carlos Tevez, but did you always believe it would work out?

Yes, definitely. He’s a great player and he’s done really well since he joined the club and I think we’re working well together. I think our partnership proves that all good players can play together no matter how similar you are.

The manager picked Tevez’s goal against Middlesbrough, which you set up with a back-heel, as his favourite of the campaign so far – was that move all about instinct?

Yeah, I think so. I knew as soon as he passed the ball that he was going to move in behind me and I managed to get it back to him and he finished it off brilliantly. It was a good goal and I was really pleased for him.

Tevez and the other lads who joined this season seem to have taken to life at United quickly – what have they brought to the dressing room and have they joined in the pranks yet?

Yeah, they have! Nani is a really funny lad around the dressing room. He’s picked the language up very quickly, probably more so than Carlos and Anderson. Anderson is another who likes a joke, whereas Carlos is pretty quiet and usually just sits and looks on, having a laugh to himself! Owen already knew a lot of the players from the England set-up and he’s a really good lad. So they’ve all fitted in very well.

'''You said before the season started that you felt this squad is the strongest you’ve been involved in during your time at United. Are you sticking by that statement?'''

I think that’s been proved by the way in which players have come in and performed when someone has been out with an injury. We’ve dealt with setbacks like that very well. That’s when you see the strength of the squad. I think being champions has given us a lot of confidence. The pressure to succeed is still there especially as every team we play always wants to do well against us. But there’s a real belief in the dressing room and, for me, it’s definitely the strongest squad I’ve been involved in.

Some people have suggested that United rely too heavily on yourself and Ronaldo – do you feel any particular pressure regarding that?

No. More importantly we know football is a team game and it’s the whole team that should take credit, not just individual players. Every member of the squad plays their part and as a team we win together and we lose together.

'''Finally, you skippered a very young United side in the final Champions League group game against Roma. How did you feel as you stepped out of the tunnel at the Stadio Olimpico?'''

It was a great feeling to lead the team out and a big achievement for me. I was skipper for the first time against Copenhagen at Old Trafford last season, but to do it again against a team like Roma was a real privilege. Against Copenhagen a couple of the lads were injured in the warm-up and the manager told me only just before we were due to go out. With the Roma game he told me a few days before, so I had time to get excited and prepare for it. Hopefully I’ll get the chance to do it again.

FourFourTwo interview

EXTERNAL LINKS AND REFERENCES

 * Wikipedia
 * ESPN Soccernet
 * Soccerbase
 * Premier League
 * Soccersurfer
 * Manchester United profile
 * TheFA.com
 * The battle of Wayne
 * The £5m wedding: Wayne and Coleen splash the cash on five private jets, Westlife and a priest from Croxteth
 * Everton profile