Wayne Rooney

Written by Dave Allan Wednesday, 14 October 2009 22:08

England Player Profiles

Wayne Rooney announced himself to the football world with a brilliant winner against the then-champions Arsenal as a precocious 16-year-old in 2002, which made him the youngest goalscorer in Premier League history at the time.

Although that record has since been surpassed twice, his career has gone from strength to strength and he is now a permanent fixture in the England side.

The rising star had done enough in an Everton shirt to warrant his call up to the England side in 2003 in a friendly against Australia, making him the youngest player to have ever played for England - another record that has since gone.

However, he bagged his first goal in Macedonia in a Euro 2004 qualifying match to become the youngest ever goalscorer for England, which helped seal his place for the finals.

The showpiece tournament proved to the world that Rooney could handle the biggest stage as he scored four goals to steer England through to the quarter-finals before injury ended his participation.

England went on to lose to Portugal on penalties but Rooney's performances had caught the eye and he won a place in the Team of the Tournament.

Manchester United had seen enough to splash the cash to buy him from Everton and Rooney wasted little time settling down with a hat-trick on his debut.

It came in the Champions League and was the reason he left Goodison as he had tasted the big time and wanted to compete for honours and play on the European stage.

He is idolized by the fans for his ability, vision, goals and tireless work-rate as much as anything and has won almost every club trophy going. Three league titles, a Champions League win and the World Club Cup - in which he scored the winner – have already been secured and he is finding the net with more regularity under Sir Alex Ferguson - but he has yet to win anything for his country.

He did not do himself justice at the 2006 World Cup as he arrived carrying an injury and never seemed himself. He failed to score and again his quarter-final against Portugal ended abruptly - this time with a red card.

England of course failed to qualify for Euro 2008 but that may well have worked in favour of Rooney as new England boss Fabio Capello seems to have found a way to bring the best out of the Manchester United star.

Rooney bagged nine goals in the opening eight qualifying games for the upcoming World Cup to comfortably head the goal-scoring charts in the European qualifying zone, with England scoring most across the continent.

And the soon to be 24-year-old, who says he wants to surpass Sir Bobby Charlton’s goal record, will be hoping to carry that form into the finals in South Africa to help England to win the biggest trophy of all.

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