Wayne Rooney

Wayne Mark Rooney (born 24 October 1985) is highly
regarded as one of the best young talents in world
football (soccer)|football. He currently plays for
Manchester United F.C.|Manchester United and the
England national football team as a striker. He
wears the number 8 shirt for his club, and is
generally given the number 9 for his country.

Rooney was brought up in a suburb of eastern
Liverpool called Croxteth, where he and his two
brothers attended De La Salle School.

As a player, Rooney is noted not only for the deft
touch and pace, but also for his strength and
physical presence which are more usually the
hallmarks of more mature players. While constantly
surrounded by national media hype and observation
since first bursting onto the scene in 2002, it
was not until his performances at the Ec2|2004
that he gained a reputation on the world stage as
he spearheaded the English attack, scoring 4 goals
- England coach Sven-Goran Eriksson compared his
impact to that made by the legendary Brazil
national football team|Brazilian Pelé|Pelé at a
similar age during the Football World Cup
1958|1958 World Cup. Other commentators have
compared him to Manchester United legend Eric
Cantona.

He is currently the youngest player ever to play
for the senior England team, making his debut on
February 12, 2003, aged 17 years, 111 days.
England's youngest ever player previous to this
was James F. M. Prinsep of Clapham Rovers, who
made his debut almost one and a quarter centuries
before, on April 5, 1879, aged 17 years, 253 days.
Rooney is also the youngest England scorer ever
(17 years, 317 days).

==Career==
===Premiership breakthrough===
Rooney first gained national prominence in October
2002 when he became the youngest* goal scorer in
the history of the Premiership at 16 years and 360
days of age, while playing for Everton
F.C.|Everton. His spectacular goal was a
last-minute winner against the then-League
champions Arsenal F.C.|Arsenal that consigned them
to their first league defeat in almost a year.
Coincidentally, Wayne Rooney also played a huge
role in ending Arsenal's record unbeaten run,
winning a penalty and scoring the second goal, in
Manchester United's 2-0 victory over Arsenal in
October 2004 - Arsenal's first Premiership defeat
in 50 games. At the end of 2002 he won the BBC
Sports Personality of the Year Young Personality
award.

* This record has since been
surpassed by James Milner (footballer)|James
Milner, while playing for Leeds United F.C |Leeds
on 26 December 2003. He was 16 years 357 days. On
10 April 2005, James Vaughan while playing for
Everton F.C. |Everton, scored a Premiership goal
on his debut, making him, at 16 years and 271 days
old, the youngest Premiership goal scorer to date
(July 2005).

===England career===
He has also figured prominently in recent English
national football team|England international
matches, after having become the youngest ever
player to play for England, in a friendly against
Australia national football team|Australia, in
February 2003 and also set a record as the
youngest player to score for England. In 2004
Rooney became the youngest player ever to score in
the European Football Championships on 17 June
2004 when he scored twice against Switzerland
national football team|Switzerland; however the
Swiss player, Johan Vonlanthen, broke this record
against France national football team|France four
days later.

===Transfers===
Before turning 17 and becoming eligible for a
professional contract, he was playing for pound
sterling|£100 a week and living with his family
on a council estate. Now, the teenage sensation
has raised that several times and earns an
estimated £50,000 (Euro|€73,500 / United
States dollar|$90,000) a week. Following intense
media coverage of Rooney at the 2004 European
Football Championship|2004 European Championships,
Everton claimed that they would not transfer his
contract for less than 50 million pounds. The club
offered Rooney a new contract for £50,000 a week.
This, however, was turned down by Rooney on the 27
August 2004, leaving Manchester United and
Newcastle United F.C.|Newcastle United to battle
for his services.

The Times newspaper reported rumours that
Newcastle's initial bid was made at the request of
Rooney's agent, who eventually made £1.5 million
from the deal and employs the son of the Newcastle
United chairman.  In return for making a bid that
would force Manchester United to try to buy the
player a year earlier than they had planned,
Newcastle would be allowed to bid for a Manchester
United defender.  Suspicions were further raised
because at that point in time Newcastle United had
little need for a striker having already got three
top class forwards at the club.  The Newcastle
United bid succeeded in forcing Manchester United
to enter the bidding. Rooney handed in a transfer
request to Everton and on 31 August, 2004 Rooney
signed for Manchester United after a contract|deal
worth up to £27 million was agreed. The deal took
place in spectacular fashion and was concluded
hours before the transfer deadline.

The initial fee of £22m is paid directly to
Everton Football Club, the rest of the money
depends on appearances and/or success at
Manchester United and/or England. It is unlikely
the fee will reach the maximum £27m due to the
complex nature of the contract drawn up by Everton
and Manchester United. A final fee in the region
of £25m is more likely.  He made his debut for
the club on 28 September, 2004 in the Champions
League against Fenerbahçe, scoring a hat-trick
and also an assist (The match finished in a 6-2
win for Manchester United).

Rooney's transfer fee is the second highest for an
exclusively British deal, with only his new
teammate, Rio Ferdinand commanding a higher fee.
Rooney does however have the honour of being the
most expensive teenage footballer ever, being only
18 when Manchester United spent their entire
seasonal transfer budget on him.

==Personal life==
As with many high-profile football players, Rooney
has been the target of many allegations and
invasions into his private life.  This includes
his relationship with girlfriend Colleen
McLoughlin. In particular The Sun, apparently
because of a personal campaign launched by editor
Rebekah Wade, has sought to discredit Rooney
publishing allegations about apparent violent
behaviour towards his girlfriend and members of
the public. Rooney and McLoughlin have both
strenuously denied these allegations.

Rooney also hit the headlines after admitting to
sleeping with a middle-aged prostitute; an affair
which placed his relationship with McLoughlin in
jeopardy, with Colleen allegedly throwing her
engagement ring into a squirrel enclosure.

On 2 May 2005 the http://www.esfa.co.uk/esfa/
English Schools' Football Association and sponsors
Coca Cola decided to drop him as guest of honour
at one of their semi-final contests because "we
could find a better role model".  This followed
allegations concerning his private life and
excessive swearing during matches.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/4504869.stm

Rooney's personal life then made international
headlines when Sepp Blatter, president of the
world football governing body FIFA, said that
Rooney's attitude deserved "a clip around the
ear."
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/main.jhtml?xml=/s
port/2005/05/13/sfnroo13.xml&sSheet=/sport/2005/05
/13/ixsporttop.html