Wayne Rooney

Wayne Mark Rooney (born 24 October 1985) is an English professional footballer who plays for and captains bothManchester United and the England national team. He has played much of his career as a forward, but he has also been used in various midfield roles.

Aged nine, Rooney joined the youth team of Everton, for whom he made his professional début in 2002 at the age of 16. He spent two seasons at the Merseyside club, before moving to Manchester United for £25.6 million in the 2004 summer transfer window. Since then, with Rooney in the team, United have won the Premier League five times, the UEFA Champions Leagueonce, the FIFA Club World Cup once and the League Cup twice. In September 2013, Rooney scored his 200th goal for United. He is currently on 229 goals, making him the club's third-highest goalscorer of all time.

Rooney made his senior international debut in February 2003 aged 17, becoming the youngest player to represent England (a record since broken by Theo Walcott) and he is England's youngest ever goalscorer. He played at UEFA Euro 2004 and scored four goals, briefly becoming the youngest goalscorer in the history of the European Championship. Rooney has since featured at the 2006, 2010 and 2014 World Cups and is widely regarded as his country's best player.He has won theEngland Player of the Year award twice, in 2008 and 2009. As of November 2014, he has won 101 international caps and scored 46 goals, making him England's ninth most-capped player and third-highest goalscorer in history. Along with David Beckham, Rooney is the most red carded player for England, having been sent off twice.

In 2009–10, Rooney was awarded the PFA Players' Player of the Year and the FWA Footballer of the Year. He has won thePremier League Player of the Month award five times, a record he shares with Steven Gerrard. He came fifth in the vote for the2011 FIFA Ballon d'Or and was named in the FIFPro World 11 for 2011. Rooney has won the 'Goal of the Season' award by theBBC's Match of the Day poll on three occasions, with his bicycle kick against rivals Manchester City winning the 'Premier League Goal of the 20 Seasons' award. A March 2012 report listed Rooney as the fifth highest-paid player in the world, with an annual income of $32.6 million.

Club career
Manchester United
2013–14 season
On 5 July 2013, new United manager David Moyes announced that Rooney was not for sale, after speculation that Chelsea, Arsenal, Real Madrid and Paris Saint-Germain were among the clubs looking to sign him. On 17 July 2013, Chelsea confirmed that they had made a bid for Rooney the previous day, thought to be in the region of £20 million, however it had been rejected by Manchester United. He suffered a head gash in training on 31 August after a collision with Phil Jones which kept him out of the match against Liverpool. He scored his first goal of the season with a free-kick in a 2–0 win against Crystal Palace.

On 17 September, Rooney scored twice in a 4–2 win against Bayer Leverkusen in the UEFA Champions League, marking his 200th goal for United in the process. On 22 September, Rooney scored a wonderful free-kick at the eleventh hour to grab a consolation goal in the 4–1 thrashing against their neighbour, Manchester City, in the Manchester derby. He scored a brace against Tottenham Hotspur at White Hart Lane in a 2–2 draw on 1 December. He scored his 150th league goal for the club with a volley against Hull City on 26 December as United came back from 2–0 deficit to win the match 3–2; he also provided assists for the other two goals.

On 21 February 2014, Rooney signed a contract extension with Manchester United, which will keep him at Old Trafford until 2019. Rooney provided one assist to Robin van Persie, as Manchester United defeated Olympiakos in the second leg of UEFA Champions League. On 22 March 2014, Rooney scored two goals for United at West Ham United, moving him to third place on the club's all-time scoring list with 212 career goals.

Rooney ended the season as both the top scorer and assist for Manchester United in the league with 17 goals and 10 assists. He also had the most assists in the 2013–2014 Champions League with 8 assists, beating 2nd place Ángel Di María who had 6 assists.

2014–15 season
After the departure of Nemanja Vidić from Manchester United in July 2014, Rooney was named by new manager Louis van Gaal as his replacement as club captain ahead of the 2014–15 season.

On the opening day of the season on 16 August, Rooney scored a bicycle kick to equalise against Swansea City, although United eventually lost 1–2.

On 27 September 2014, Rooney became the third highest Premier League top-scorer of all time moving ahead of Thierry Henry with 176 goals after he netted a goal in a 2–1 victory against West Ham United. In the same match, he was sent off for a foul on Stewart Downing and received a three-game suspension.

On 22 November 2014, Rooney scored for United in a 2–1 win against rivals Arsenal, their first away win of the season. He continued to score in the following match, in a 3–0 win over Hull City. On 14 December, he scored the opening goal in a 3–0 win over rivals Liverpool. On 26 December, Rooney scored two goals against Newcastle United, a match which his side won 3–1 — United's 50th successive Boxing Day match. For his performances, Rooney was voted as United's Player of the Month for December. During the season Rooney was often deployed as a midfielder by manager Louis van Gaal.

On 16 February 2015, in an FA Cup match against Preston, Rooney was the subject of criticism for having dived to get a penalty; United would go on to win the match 3–1. Replay seemed to have shown that Rooney hadn't come in contact with the goalkeeper. However, England manager Roy Hodgson defended Rooney, saying that he was forced to take evasive action. Rooney later apologised for his behaviour, saying: "that was my chance to get a penalty. I had to use that." The penalty was also Rooney's first goal in 2015, ending a goalless run. On 28 February 2015, he scored a brace in a 2–0 victory over Sunderland, thus becoming the first player to score more than 10 goals in 11 successive seasons. On 15 March, Rooney scored the third goal in a 3–0 win over Tottenham.

International career


At the 2014 FIFA World Cup, Rooney started in England's first group match against Italy, setting up Sturridge's temporary equaliser, in a 2–1 loss. In England's second 2014 FIFA World Cup group match against Uruguay at the Arena Corinthians, Rooney scored his first ever goal at a FIFA World Cup finals with a 75th minute equaliser in a 2–1 loss. England drew their final group match 0–0 against Costa Rica, and were eliminated from the World Cup, finishing last in their group; despite playing a part in both of England's goals, Rooney was criticised by English pundits for his performance in the tournament.

Following Steven Gerrard's international retirement after the 2014 FIFA World Cup, Roy Hodgson named Rooney as England's new captain. On 3 September 2014, in the first match of his captaincy, Rooney scored a penalty against Norway to give England a 1–0 friendly win. Later on he showed his leadership attribute by calling player-only meetings in September 2014 to reflect on the players' performance and discuss how they can do better as a team. "Obviously the manager gives us our game plan, but because we don't spend that much time together as a team we need to know and feel confident in what we're doing as a team together. In the meetings, you're having the players speak up who wouldn't normally speak up when coaches are there." Rooney said. On 15 November 2014, Rooney won his 100th England cap against Slovenia in a UEFA Euro 2016 qualifying match, scoring a penalty to equalise in a 3–1 win.

Style of play
Rooney is an energetic, creative forward, who combines technical skill with strength and physicality, which enables him to excel in the air, despite not being particularly tall. He is a versatile attacker, capable of playing anywhere along the front line, as a striker, supporting forward, or even as a winger. In more recent years, he has even been deployed in a deeper, more creative role, as an attacking midfielder, or even as a central or box-to-box midfielder under van Gaal, due to his passing and team-work. A prolific goalscorer, Rooney is a powerful striker of the ball and an accurate finisher, who is capable of scoring goals both inside and outside the penalty area, as well as from volleys. In addition to his offensive attributes, Rooney has been praised for his work-rate and stamina by players, managers and the media; he is highly regarded for his dedication and willingness to press opponents when possession has been lost in order to win back the ball and start attacking plays.

Due to his precocious displays as a teenager, Wayne Rooney was given the nicknames "Wazza" (a reference to former England international Paul "Gazza" Gascoigne, who was also a gifted player troubled by off-field issues), "The Wonder Boy", and "The White Pelé". Rooney was a fast, agile player in his youth; however, several injuries throughout his career have affected his speed and mobility in recent years, which has led to some in the game accusing him of not quite living up to his full potential, on occasion. Despite his reputation as one of the best ever English players, and as one of the top strikers of his generation, Rooney has been criticised for his behaviour and aggression on the pitch at times, which has led him to pick up unnecessary bookings.

source: http://en.wikipedia.org/