The White Pele
Explosive finishing, world class vision, bewildering ball control and an unquenchable thirst for victory: Wayne Rooney is special. More special in fact than any other British player these eyes of mine have had the pleasure of seeing play the beautiful game.
After a period of relative anonymity (10h 37mins without scoring in the league) the young Manchester United forward announced his return to form last Saturday evening in the FA Cup encounter with Portsmouth. Of the two goals Rooney plundered it was the second strike which illustrated exactly why I rate him so highly.
The true greats see the flow of the game much quicker and easier than their inferiors. They know instinctively where the goal is and need only a sniff of a chance to attempt the outrageous. Eric Cantona, Paulo Di Canio, Gianfranco Zola; all amazing players but sadly, from a patriotic perspective, none are British. But now there is Rooney: a gritty young British lad who displays this magical connection with the essence of the game that only the true geniuses possess. His second goal against Portsmouth was magnificent. Instinct and god given talent combined to produce a few seconds of pure brilliance. 30 yards from goal, taking a touch to bring a pass under control, he spotted James a few yards off his line. Without looking up, Rooney moved the ball into the firing line then unleashed a driven chip which floated perfectly into the top corner of the net. It was wonderful to watch and added some long overdue assurance to my suggestion that Wayne Rooney is destined to be one of the best footballers of all time.
Spending his early days developing his now trademark robustness and red hot competitive streak in the dog eat dog trenches of a tough council estate situated on the outskirts of Liverpool, Rooney’s precocious ability was noticed by an Everton scout when he was only 9 years old. In his last season for the local junior team, Walton FC, he scored a staggering 99 goals. Progression through the ranks at the Everton Academy came swiftly. Having played for the U19 team at 15 years old it was no surprise to those following his divine steps when he went on to make his first team debut at the tender age of 16 in late 2002. Early in the next year he received his first international cap when representing
England in the February 2003 home defeat to the fearsome Australians. Continued success in and around the Everton first team followed, which in turn attracted interest from a number of bigger clubs. After Rooney’s relationship with the Everton supporters became fractured amid attempts by Newcastle to sign him, Alex Ferguson stepped in with a 25m bid which captured the teenager’s signature in August 2004.
Since arriving at Old Trafford and falling under the steely gaze of Ferguson, Rooney has matured both on and off the field of play. But this steady progress was rudely stunted by the metatarsal injury, sustained in a league encounter with Chelsea, which not only ruined our country’s chances and hopes of performing miracles at last year’s World Cup, but also blighted Rooney’s form for the first half of this current premiership campaign.
The boisterous Manchester United front man may now- at this vital stage of the season- be entering a period when his mind, heart and body are gruffly synchronized. And with his team well positioned in the Premiership, FA Cup and Champions League, Rooney could well be the dynamo behind a devastating triple success.
After completing the deal to bring Rooney to Old Trafford in 2004, Ferguson said :“I think we have got the best young player this country has seen in the past 30 years“. Two and a half years on and only the criminally insane could disagree.
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