Having equalled Sir Bobby Charlton as England’s leading all-time goalscorer courtesy of his strike against San Marino in a 6-0 rout by the Three Lions earlier on today, Wayne Rooney must be feeling much better about life.
Having endured something of a slow start to the new Premier League season, Rooney reaching another major milestone will put the Manchester United man in good stead when returning to the fold at Old Trafford next.
With Radamel Falcao and Robin van Persie now long gone at United, Rooney was entrusted with the honour of being the Red Devils’ main centre forward this season but after a series of toothless run outs as a number nine in this season’s infancy, Louis van Gaal splashed big money on Anthony Martial from Monaco.
Only time will tell whether Martial goes straight into United’s line up but right now, the expectation is that Rooney will revert back to the number 10 role in behind the Frenchman and somewhere where he got used to playing last season.
Having registered 12 Premier League strikes last term, Rooney undoubtedly needs to improve that figure this time around in an attempt to draw United closer to the likes of Chelsea and Manchester City at the summit and nobody will know this more than the player himself.
Now a veteran of the Premier League experience wise, Wayne Rooney is of course Wayne Rooney but did you know these five facts about the England international?
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Click on the image below to reveal the 5 things you didn’t know about Manchester United star Wayne Rooney.
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He’s now way down in 10th on United’s most expensive list
Contemporarily in the most expensive ranks when it comes to new arrivals at Manchester United, Wayne Rooney is now the equivalent of Crystal Palace in 10th place on the all-time standings.
Once the most expensive teenager in world football, Rooney has witnessed both Luke Shaw and most recently Anthony Martial usurp his £27 million arrival in the 2014 and 2015 summer transfer windows respectively.
With Angel Di Maria, Juan Mata, Dimitar Berbatov, Rio Ferdinand, Ander Herrera, Juan Sebastian Veron and Marouane Fellaini all also ahead of Rooney in the most expensive stakes, nobody has contributed more to the Red Devils’ cause than Rooney himself.
As well as Everton, he supports Celtic and boasts a Celtic cross on his arm
An Everton fan by virtue of growing up in Croxteth, Liverpool and having represented the Toffees as his first club, Rooney is also a fan of Scottish giants Celtic.
His affection for the Glasgow club stems from the fact that Alan Stubbs was a team-mate of Rooney when he made the big breakthrough at Goodison Park and with Stubbs having represented Celtic before signing for the Merseyside club, Rooney actually once joined the Bhoys’ away support at fierce rivals Rangers to cheer on the Hoops.
Also previously able to have represented the Republic of Ireland at international level through virtue of his grandmother, Rooney could’ve also played for Scotland whom he was once approached by.
In addition to his following of Celtic, he too boasts a Celtic cross tattoo on his arm.
He almost quit football two years before his Premier League debut
We all know that Wayne Rooney still resides as one of the youngest ever Premier League debutants, denting Arsenal’s 30-game unbeaten streak in the process but just two years before that achievement, the striker has since admitted he nearly quit the game altogether.
Definitely now amongst the list of all-time England greats, both United and Three Lions fans should pay a lot of praise to Everton coach and club legend Colin Harvey who talked Rooney away from boxing and back into football during that tough decision making period.
Rooney himself previously claimed: “Colin Harvey was a massive help because when I was about 14 I stopped enjoying playing football.
“I had enjoyed it all my life until then, but I was being told to do different things that I didn’t want to do and it was down to Colin that I carried on.
“He sat me down and made me fall back in love with it. From that moment on, that’s when I said to myself, “This is what I want to be doing.”
He became the first footballer to reach 10 million followers on Twitter last year
Now a must have for every Premier League footballer and even a few brave managers to in the form of Ronald Koeman and Garry Monk, Twitter is the ultimate necessity for the modern-day pro.
Still seen as a distraction by some such as Harry Redknapp, you only have to look at the trouble West Bromwich Albion’s Saido Berahino has gotten himself into of late to realise the potential perils of using the platform irresponsibly.
All of that said, it was Wayne Rooney himself that became the first footballer to hit the golden milestone of 10 million Twitter followers in October last year with 74 per cent of this total residing outside of the United Kingdom.
What else so accurately demonstrates the sheer global allure surrounding the man?
Another tattoo marks his love of Stereophonics
Now we know Wayne Rooney boasts a Celtic cross on his arm, another tattoo in his collection contains the lyrics “Just Enough Education To Perform” which have been made famous by Welsh band Stereophonics whom their 2001 number one album is entitled.
It is popularly believed that this tattoo choice is down to Rooney having left school without any GCSEs to his name.
Lucky the whole football thing worked out then although rival fans are claiming he’s lost it altogether in the opening weeks of the new season!
