Wayne Rooney the greatest British player of his generation or simply a good
player in teams that lack real sparkle. It is perhaps one of the biggest
conundrums in English football but how good is the man dubbed the ‘white
Pele’ by fans and manager alike?
A decade on from his emergence as a fresh faced 16-year-old in a man’s body it appears that we are still no closer to a definitive answer.
Thirty-two goals in seventy-eight international appearances and one hundred and ninety-nine goals at club level are hardly statistics to be sniffed at. He’s a multiple Premier League winner (4 times), a Champions League Winner and has picked up over a dozen individual accolades ranging from Football Writers and PFA Player of the Year awards (2009-10) to BBC Young Sports Personality of the Year (2002).
Nor can anyone forget moments of magic like the 25-yard volley against Newcastle (2005), his hat-trick at West Ham (2011) or his stupendous overhead kick that won the Manchester Derby in February of the same year and was subsequently named the Premier League Goal of the 20 Seasons'.
Yet many Manchester United and England fans still harbour doubts over the man who learnt his trade on the back streets of Croxteth in Liverpool.
Some even wonder what has happened to the free spirited 18-year-old that terrorised defenders at Euro 2004. Just ask William Gallas and Lillian Thuram about that! Back in those days his talents were being honed at Everton’s antiquated former training base at Bellefield but a big money move (a British record for a teenager) to United catapulted him on to the biggest stage.
A hat-trick on his opening bow against Fenerbahce was more than an encouraging start and he has been utilised in several positions by Sir Alex Ferguson during two transitional periods to become the Reds top dog. When Cristiano Ronaldo waved his goodbyes to head to Real Madrid in the summer of 2009, it was Rooney that picked up the baton scoring 26 league goals to fire United to what was then a record equalling 18th League title.
However critics would argue that his brilliance is too often tempered by frequent injuries, inconsistent performances and off field issues and while it’s true that his career has hit many heights he has never quite been able to eclipse world stars like Ronaldo, Lionel Messi, Xavi Hernandez or Andres Iniesta.
When he retires his career will not be defined by the goals scored against teams like Wigan, Hull, West Ham or Stoke. It will be judged on his performances against the European and World’s elite.
Some will point to his goal at Wembley in the Champions League final against Barcelona as evidence that he is more than capable when pitted against the best but it should not be forgotten that he was a member of a United team comprehensibly outplayed from start to finish in that encounter. Rooney’s other contribution in that game apart from his solitary strike - to ignore instructions to sit on Barca’s midfield anchor-man leaving his team-mates painfully exposed in the centre of the park.
For England, competitions have come and gone since 2004 and as each one ends the question oft repeated centres around how to get the best out of Rooney. So is his star on the wane?
At club level, it was the return from retirement of 37-year-old Paul Scholes and not Rooney’s influence that invigorated a title tilt last term while this year’s start to the season has been mixed.
A lacklustre display at Goodison on the opening day where he clearly looked sluggish and overweight saw him removed from the starting XI to make way for Dutch striker Robin van Persie.
On his return to the United line-up he has operated in a midfield role. It makes use of his good but not electric pace, an ability to ping the ball all over the park, energy to help out defensively and his exceptional positional play. He can of course still be profligate in possession but it at least affords him the opportunity to get the team moving from a deeper position.
Re-employed in a central striking berth yesterday, Rooney opened his account for the season with an own-goal before going on to show the sort of potency that will be required at the other end if United are to overhaul their noisy neighbours and European Champions Chelsea come May. However once again goals masked a performance that was hardly vintage. His passing particularly in a muted first half an hour was remarkably off key and it would be difficult to imagine any of the world's finest players struggling in such a way against hard-working but limited opponents.
Now approaching his peak years, a working class background, stocky build and undoubted talent often make him the subject of comparisons to Paul Gascoigne. When on song, the Geordie was often his team's inspiration but perhaps more significantly and worryingly, Rooney seems to also have inherited identical dietary problems to those previously faced by Gascoigne.
When fit and on song he can undoubtedly provide moments of genius but given his propensity to gain weight and United's injury record reservations must exist surrounding the sort of recovery he'd be capable of should a long-term injury be sustained.
With speed now a prerequisite of the modern day forward Rooney could find himself in a situation faced by many of his senior peers at club and international level who have had to alter style or position to prolong their careers at the highest level.
Ryan Giggs and Paul Scholes would appear to be the finest exponents of this philosophy in recent times, however all this hypothesising could be immaterial should Sir Alex Ferguson decide that Rooney's metamorphosis into a midfielder needs to be accelerated to reinforce a team shorn of a box-to-box player in the mould of Bryan Robson or Roy Keane. It is a role for which he has long seemed unsuited but it may define the second half of his career.
A decade on from his emergence as a fresh faced 16-year-old in a man’s body it appears that we are still no closer to a definitive answer.
Thirty-two goals in seventy-eight international appearances and one hundred and ninety-nine goals at club level are hardly statistics to be sniffed at. He’s a multiple Premier League winner (4 times), a Champions League Winner and has picked up over a dozen individual accolades ranging from Football Writers and PFA Player of the Year awards (2009-10) to BBC Young Sports Personality of the Year (2002).
Nor can anyone forget moments of magic like the 25-yard volley against Newcastle (2005), his hat-trick at West Ham (2011) or his stupendous overhead kick that won the Manchester Derby in February of the same year and was subsequently named the Premier League Goal of the 20 Seasons'.
Yet many Manchester United and England fans still harbour doubts over the man who learnt his trade on the back streets of Croxteth in Liverpool.
Some even wonder what has happened to the free spirited 18-year-old that terrorised defenders at Euro 2004. Just ask William Gallas and Lillian Thuram about that! Back in those days his talents were being honed at Everton’s antiquated former training base at Bellefield but a big money move (a British record for a teenager) to United catapulted him on to the biggest stage.
A hat-trick on his opening bow against Fenerbahce was more than an encouraging start and he has been utilised in several positions by Sir Alex Ferguson during two transitional periods to become the Reds top dog. When Cristiano Ronaldo waved his goodbyes to head to Real Madrid in the summer of 2009, it was Rooney that picked up the baton scoring 26 league goals to fire United to what was then a record equalling 18th League title.
However critics would argue that his brilliance is too often tempered by frequent injuries, inconsistent performances and off field issues and while it’s true that his career has hit many heights he has never quite been able to eclipse world stars like Ronaldo, Lionel Messi, Xavi Hernandez or Andres Iniesta.
When he retires his career will not be defined by the goals scored against teams like Wigan, Hull, West Ham or Stoke. It will be judged on his performances against the European and World’s elite.
Some will point to his goal at Wembley in the Champions League final against Barcelona as evidence that he is more than capable when pitted against the best but it should not be forgotten that he was a member of a United team comprehensibly outplayed from start to finish in that encounter. Rooney’s other contribution in that game apart from his solitary strike - to ignore instructions to sit on Barca’s midfield anchor-man leaving his team-mates painfully exposed in the centre of the park.
For England, competitions have come and gone since 2004 and as each one ends the question oft repeated centres around how to get the best out of Rooney. So is his star on the wane?
At club level, it was the return from retirement of 37-year-old Paul Scholes and not Rooney’s influence that invigorated a title tilt last term while this year’s start to the season has been mixed.
A lacklustre display at Goodison on the opening day where he clearly looked sluggish and overweight saw him removed from the starting XI to make way for Dutch striker Robin van Persie.
On his return to the United line-up he has operated in a midfield role. It makes use of his good but not electric pace, an ability to ping the ball all over the park, energy to help out defensively and his exceptional positional play. He can of course still be profligate in possession but it at least affords him the opportunity to get the team moving from a deeper position.
Re-employed in a central striking berth yesterday, Rooney opened his account for the season with an own-goal before going on to show the sort of potency that will be required at the other end if United are to overhaul their noisy neighbours and European Champions Chelsea come May. However once again goals masked a performance that was hardly vintage. His passing particularly in a muted first half an hour was remarkably off key and it would be difficult to imagine any of the world's finest players struggling in such a way against hard-working but limited opponents.
Now approaching his peak years, a working class background, stocky build and undoubted talent often make him the subject of comparisons to Paul Gascoigne. When on song, the Geordie was often his team's inspiration but perhaps more significantly and worryingly, Rooney seems to also have inherited identical dietary problems to those previously faced by Gascoigne.
When fit and on song he can undoubtedly provide moments of genius but given his propensity to gain weight and United's injury record reservations must exist surrounding the sort of recovery he'd be capable of should a long-term injury be sustained.
With speed now a prerequisite of the modern day forward Rooney could find himself in a situation faced by many of his senior peers at club and international level who have had to alter style or position to prolong their careers at the highest level.
Ryan Giggs and Paul Scholes would appear to be the finest exponents of this philosophy in recent times, however all this hypothesising could be immaterial should Sir Alex Ferguson decide that Rooney's metamorphosis into a midfielder needs to be accelerated to reinforce a team shorn of a box-to-box player in the mould of Bryan Robson or Roy Keane. It is a role for which he has long seemed unsuited but it may define the second half of his career.
