Wayne Rooney Biography

Wayne Rooney was born in Liverpool, and was brought up as a Roman Catholic with younger brothers Graeme and John all three attended Our Lady and St Swithin's primary school. He grew up supporting his local club Everton.

Wayne Rooney, Premier League winner and youngest ever England scorer is now a regular in the Manchester United first team, and is the third top scorer of all time, despite being only 26 years old

After growing up in Liverpool, he was spotted by an Everton scout while playing for his local side, Dynamo Brownings. He was only 11 years old at the time.

Later in his Everton career, he played alongside his boyhood hero, Duncan Ferguson, and this was a dream come true for him. Then, at the age of just 16, he became the Premier League's youngest ever scorer, when he scored the inner in a 2-1 victory over Arsenal. Although he was an amazing young player, before the age of 18 he was only earning £80 a week.

Rooney, 18 at this time, went to Euro 2004 and shined, scoring 4 times in 3 group games. Then, when it came to the Quarter Final, he broke his metartarsal and England went out.

But it wasn't all bad news for Wayne; it was reported that Sir Alex Ferguson, the Manchester United manager, was interested in him. Rooney quickly signed up for £25 million, rising to £31 million depending on appearances and success.

This made him the second most expensive British player ever, with only his United team-mate Rio Ferdinand more expensive. However, Wayne did have the honour of being the most expensive British teenager, still just 18 years old at the time.

So, after being an Everton player for seven years and making 77 appearances, scoring 17 goals, Wayne was now a Manchester United Player.

His debut for the reds came on 28th September 2004, in the Champons League against Fenerbahce . He scored a hat-trick, assisted 1 and had a remarkable debut in a 6-2 thrashing. It was a wonderful start to his first season in United colours, and a sign of things to come.

Rooney ended the 2004/05 season with 17 goals in 43 games, although he just missed out on his first winners medal, the FA Cup, as United lost to Arsenal in a Penalty shoot-out. He was named PFA Young Player Of The Season for that year, voted for by his fellow players.

His second season in Manchester was even more successful: He won the PFA Young Player Of The Year for the second year running, and the Sir Matt Busby Player Of The Year Award.

Rooney again suffered a broken metartarsal, but this time it came just weeks before the 2006 World Cup in Germany. Metartarsal injuries usually take around 3 months to recover from, so Wayne was facing a battle to be fit in time.

He recovered quickly and managed to be back in time for England's second group game, which they won 2-0. They drew their final game 2-2 to Sweden, to set up a second round game with Ecuador. England won 1-0 thanks to a David Beckham free-kick, meaning they would play Portugal in the Quarter-Final.

Rooney was sent off in the 60th minute of that game for stamping on Portugese defender Ricardo Carvalho. This did not help england, and they lost the game on penalties.

The 2006-07 season stared well; United won the first game 5-1 over Fulham, Rooney and team-mate Cristiano Ronaldo combined well despite the World Cup controversy of just 2 months before. United remained top of the league throughout the season, and finished up 6 points clear of Chelsea, to win their first Premier League title since 2003.

They also got to the FA Cup Final, but lost 1-0 to Chelsea and the Champions League Semi-Final, a 5-3 defeat to AC Milan.

Wayne ended his third year at United with 23 goals, his record so far.

In June 2007, Rooney was awarded the Number 10 shirt, last worn by Ruud Van Nistelrooy.

He finished the 2007-08 season with 18 goals, as United clinched both the Premier League and the Champions League, in which they defeated league rivals Chelsea, on penalties.

In the 2008-09 season, in an away win over Blackburn Rovers, Wayne became the youngest player in league history to make 200 appearances. He finished the season with 20 goals as The Reds once again won the Premier League.

Rooney's start to the new season got off to scoring ways, grabbing a goal in the last minute of the Community Shield, although United lost it on penalties to Chelsea. He then scored the only goal of the first game of the 2009-10 seasin against Birmingham, taking his overall Man United record to 99.

On 22 August, he became the 20th Manchester United player to have scored at least 100 goals for the club, in a 5–0 away win at Wigan Athletic.

On 16 February 2010, Rooney hit his first European goals of the season, as he scored two headers in a 3–2 away win versus AC Milan

Chelsea pipped United to the 2009-10 Premier League title, but that didn't stop Rooney from winning the PFA Player's Player Of The Year.