Wayne Rooney Profile
Born in Croxteth in Liverpool on the 24th of October 1985, Wayne Rooney made the very rare footballing exodus from Liverpool to Manchester just before the 2004-2005 Premier League season got under way after gaining plaudits and recognition far and wide during his formative footballing years at Everton. A young Rooney was propelled into the Football spotlight in the aftermath scoring a match-winning goal against Arsenal just five days before his 17th birthday back in 2002, which at the time also helped to end the Gunners' record-breaking thirty-match unbeaten run in the Premier League.
It wasn't long before Barclays Premier League clubs came sniffing around Everton, buoyed by news delivered by club scouts sent to Goodison Park to monitor the naturally gifted striker's progress; especially in light of Rooney's 15 goals in 67 Premiership starts in the colours of Everton, whilst his while the precocious talents of the youngster at international level garnered more than just admiring glances from suitors who soon began lining up to secure his signature. During England's Euro 2004 campaign, Rooney netted nine times in just 17 appearances, alerting the attention of two giants of the English game; Newcastle United and their Manchester-based namesake.
Sadly Rooney's short-lived professional Everton career – the Blues being his boyhood idols – was ended in somewhat acrimonious fashion. If not over the actual transfer itself – which suited all parties concerned – more to do with comments Rooney misguidedly made in his 2006 autobiography that falsely accused Everton manager, David Moyes of leaking his players' reasons for departing the Merseyside club to the press. Rooney later apologized to his former coach and paid him £500,000 in damages.
Manchester United Took 18-Year Old Wayne Rooney From Everton In £25.6 Million Deal
Manchester United's biggest signing of 2004 cost them a staggering £25.6 million; yet the deal that finally took the then 18-year old Rooney from Everton to Old Trafford could be worth up to £30 million by the time that it ends. The rampaging forward that caught Sir Alex Ferguson's eye put pen to paper on an initial six-year deal and as part of the contract the Goodison Park club stand to receive 25% of any future transfer money should Rooney move on from Manchester United. The potential £30 million figure was a forecast accumulative one that was based on the player renewing his contract, the amount of appearances at international level he racks up and ultimate club successes during his time playing for the Red Devils.
During his debut season at Old Trafford Rooney found himself thrown in at the Champions League deep end when facing the volatile Turkish side, Fenerbahce, a notoriously difficult team to come away from an encounter with anything worthwhile. But reputations good, bad or indifferent count for nothing in Rooney's matter-or-fact approach to the game, as the boy wonder helped himself to a sensational hat-trick as the Reds registered a 6 – 2 victory over their rivals that night.
Rooney's Style Of Football Leaves No Room For Prisoners
Of course a no-nonsense player with what at best can be described as a temperamental attitude as displayed on the pitch - that unsettles his detractors – meant it wouldn't be long before Wayne Rooney courted the wrong sort of headlines off it. Seemingly rash challenges and a hot-headed reaction to decisions that went against him would to his allies be brushed aside as youthful exuberance, yet many in the game knew that Rooney had to learn to keep a lid on things if he was to become the complete player and consummate professional that they knew he had the capacity to grow into. Rooney's barn-storming manner of play earned him a red card and a three-match ban during a friendly fixture against Porto in 2006 which sparked Rooney to pen a letter of protest in his defence, complete with a thinly veiled threat of withdrawing his image rights if the FA didn't overturn the ban and rescind the card. The FA didn't yield the necessary power to alter this matter.
Wayne Rooney Inherited Manchester United Legend Denis Laws' Number 10 Shirt
During the 2006-2007 Barclays Premier League campaign Rooney signed a two-year contract extension at Old Trafford which might have spurred him on to ending that season with a total goal tally of 23 in all competitions, equal to that of his habitually prolific strike partner, Ronaldo. in his time to date with Manchester United, Rooney has contributed more than just goals to a team that stand at the pinnacle of the English domestic game, and he himself has been crucially involved in securing three Barclays Premier League titles for his employers, alongside the 2007-2008 UEFA Champions League and the Football League cup. Rooney inherited the number 10 shirt from Ruud van Nistelrooy who left Manchester United for Real Madrid in 2006, yet had to wait until a year later to receive the honour from Red Devils legend – and former number 10 wearer – Denis Law.
Rooney has been named PFA Young Player of the Year on two successive occasions in respect of his achievements in both the 2004-2005 and 2005-2006 Premier League seasons; beating off stiff competition from the likes of Jermain Defoe, Arjen Robben, Stewart Downing, Shaun Wright-Phillips and a certain youngster who became his team-mate at Old Trafford, Portuguese wing wizard Cristiano Ronaldo. Rooney was also named as the BBC Sports Personality of the Year's Young Personality of the Year for the 2002-2003 season prior to his big-money move to United, while he's also been named the Sir Matt Busby Player of the Year in 2005-2006, the PFA Fans' Player of the Year in the same season, England Player of the Year for 2008 and awarded the FA Premier League Player of the Month in February and December 2005, March 2006 and November 2007 to date.
Rooney Became A Father In November 2009 To Son Kai
Whilst not going out of his way to attract media attention away from the field of play like some of Manchester United's famous number sevens had a habit of doing, Rooney nevertheless was held up to much public scrutiny, and although never living a goldfish bowl existence his every move both on and off the pitch were open to fierce debate. looking at his personal life, Wayne Rooney is married to Coleen McCloughlin whom he met at secondary school, having dated for six years previously. During this time he was alleged to have visited a prostitute which obviously did little to portray Rooney as a clean living role model to scores of football mad youngsters who would inevitably look up to the modern icon he was rapidly becoming at that time. He has always maintained that he was young and immature at the time and it was before he had settled down with his future wife. Rooney has also received £100,000 from the tabloid newspapers after wrongly accusing him of a nightclub assault, a sum of money he donated to charity.
Wayne Rooney became a father for the first time in November 2009 when his wife, Coleen gave birth to son, Kai Wayne Rooney. Lucrative sponsorship deals with Nike, Nokia, Ford, Asda, Coca-Cola and Electronic Arts ensure that the Rooney's have an additional source of income thanks to football, and in 2006 Wayne agreed to the largest sports book publishing deal in history, when HarperCollins paid the Manchester United and England star a £5 million advance plus royalties in return for five books to be penned over a twelve-year time frame from that point onwards.
Expensive Cars Typify Trappings Of Premier League Hot-Shot Wayne Rooney's Wealth
Like most Barclays Premier League footballer - especially the Manchester United jet-set – Wayne Rooney has flashed huge wads of his earnings on expensive, prestige cars to whisk him and Coleen around in. From relatively humble beginnings with his Ford Ka Everton club car provided early on in his Goodison Park career, it wasn't long before Rooney and his missus were collecting some pretty impressive machinery to clog up the driveway of their multi-million pound Prestbury home. They've owned and driven everything from an Aston Martin Vanquish S, Mercedes CL63 AMG, Bentley Continental GTC Speed and Lamborghini Gallardo Spyder to a Porsche 911, Overfinch Range Rover Sport, Cadillac Escalade and a host of M-Series BMWs. Basically well over a million pounds worth of automotive status symbols.