Current club: Manchester United
Wayne is a Liverpudlian who joined Everton, the club he supported as a boy. In October 2002, when he was still five days short of his 17th birthday, he made his first real impact with a thumping winning goal for the Toffees against Arsenal. It ended the Gunners’ 30-game unbeaten run and made him the youngest scorer in Premier League history.
After two seasons, in which he notched 15 goals in 67 League games, he moved to Manchester United in 2004 for a fee reported to be £25.6 million, a colossal amount for an 18-year-old.
He had an outstanding debut for United, scoring a hat-trick in a 6-2 victory over Fenerbahce in the Champions League, and went on to win three Premier League titles, one League Cup and one Champions League.
For England he started with an U15 cap against Wales and made his senior debut as England’s youngest ever player at 17 years 111 days, substituting for Kieron Dyer in a friendly against Australia at Upton Park on 12 February 2003. Wayne became the youngest scorer in Macedonia seven months later.
Undeniably a world star, he was in the ‘Team of the Tournament’ for Euro 2004 and reached 50 caps (21 goals) by the time he was 23.
The Manchester United hero has played in two World Cup Finals tournaments, in 2006 and 2010, and scored three goals in qualification for UEFA Euro 2012, although a red card against Montenegro means he will miss the opening two matches of the campaign in Poland & Ukraine.
Rooney, who was England Player of the Year in 2008 and 2009, is already placed seventh on the list of all-time goalscorers for the Three Lions, 21 behind all-time leader Bobby Charlton who scored 49 times.He has won eight major trophies already for Manchester United.