Posted on: 29 June, 2004
Author: Chris Towland
word count: 697character width: 60Wayne Rooney - A New Boy Wonder for English Football?by Chris Towlandwww.Football-Nut.co.ukUntil England's untimely exit at the hands of the hostnation (and a Swiss R... word count: 697character width: 60Wayne Rooney - A New Boy Wonder for English Football?by Chris Towlandwww.Football-Nut.co.ukUntil England's untimely exit at the hands of the hostnation (and a Swiss Referee), the player making all thenewspaper headlines during Euro 2004 in Portugal was WayneRooney, English football's latest 'boy wonder'.Still four month's shy of his nineteenth birthday, Rooney'sfour Euro goals ..... two against Switzerland (including hisshot that rebounded off the post only to hit the Swisskeeper and bounce into the net) and two further superb goalsagainst Croatia, set English hearts racing with hopes of afirst major tournament win since holding the World Cup aloftin 1966.Those hopes, of course, were eventually brought crashing toearth by a combination of a Wayne Rooney injury, anextremely dubious disallowed goal and traditionally poorpenalty taking by the English team (including one from ourCaptain that Jonny Wilkinson would have been proud of!)No-one can question Wayne Rooney's performances for hiscountry, the quality of his football at international levelor his incredible goalscoring ability, but have Rooney's performances in the blue shirt of his own club, Everton,been as sparkling as those when wearing his nationalcolours? ....... And what does the future hold for our'Roonaldo'?Rooney's Premiership debut arrived early in the 2002/2003campaign when he became the youngest Premier League playerat the tender age of sixteen. Two other records quicklyfollowed ..... Firstly, the two goals he scored in Everton'sWorthington Cup victory over Wrexham gave Rooney the titleof Everton's youngest-ever goalscorer, a record that hadpreviously been held by Tommy Lawton. Secondly, in October2002 and at the age of 16 years and 360 days, a cracker of agoal that beat the England goalkeeper David Seaman in thelast few seconds of the game against Arsenal, made Rooneythe youngest-ever Premiership scorer!Many England fans will be surprised to hear however, thatapart from a few very notable occasions, Wayne Rooney'sperformances in the Premiership have been less thanspectacular as he has often seemed unable to duplicate hisEngland form on the domestic stage!In his first season of Premiership action he made fourteenfull appearances for Everton and came on as a substitute atotal of nineteen times. During this season Rooney scored atotal of six Premiership goals which included the goal inNovember 2002 that gave Everton their first win at LeedsUnited for 51 years. A month later, Wayne Rooney was sentoff in a game that Everton drew with Birmingham City.Ironically, this was on the very same day that James Milnerof Leeds United broke Rooney's youngest Premiership scorerrecord by the tiny margin of just three days!During the 2003/2004 season Rooney was certainly catchingthe eye of Sven Goran Erickson, the England team manager,but statistical records of his season show possibly a lowertally in the goalscoring department than many England fanswould have expected. In fact, from twenty-six fullappearances and eight as a substitute, Wayne Rooney scoredonly nine Premiership goals.But as for the past, who cares? As the whole of Europe saw,Rooney was masterful during Euro 2004 and if it wasn't forhis broken metatarsal who knows how far he and his Englandteammates could have progressed?As for the future, there is talk in the press of massivebids in the region of £50 million from either Chelsea orManchester United. Rooney himself is said to prefer theManchester option which would keep him close to his North-West roots but it is possible that the deep Chelsea pocketsmay force United out of the bidding.Wherever Wayne Rooney ends up playing his football for thenext few seasons, let's hope that for the sake of theEnglish game his progress continues and that he reaches theheady heights that have been forecast for him and reallydoes become England's 'Boy Wonder'!Chris TowlandJune 2004 Source: Free Articles from ArticlesFactory.com