England striker Wayne Rooney has agreed a five-year contract with club Manchester United, the Premier League club said on Friday.
England striker Wayne Rooney has agreed a five-year contract with club Manchester United, the Premier League club said on Friday.
Feared striker:
Rooney, who can operate effectively as a lone striker or alongside a bigger target man, has it all -- an ability to run at defenders, lead the line, play as a second striker and track back into deeper roles. But the main reason defenders fear him so much is his clinical finishing.
Early career:
Rooney made his Everton first team debut as a 16-year-old in a season-opener against Tottenham Hotspur in Aug. 2002 after coming through Everton's youth academy.
In October 2002 he became Everton's youngest scorer, with two goals in a 3-0 League Cup win at Wrexham. He also became the youngest Premier League scorer with a match-winner to end Arsenal's 30-match unbeaten run.
Manchester United and Premier League rivals Newcastle United became locked in a bidding war for the 18-year-old and on Aug. 31 2004, United reached an agreement to sign Rooney. Manager Alex Ferguson paid 25.6 million pounds ($40.40 million).
Playing for Manchester United:
Rooney has made 289 appearances for United, scoring 132 goals.
By the end of the 200405 season, his first with the club, Rooney had amassed 17 goals in 43 appearances and was named PFA Young Player of the Year.
He scored 19 goals in his second season at Old Trafford and then in 2006-07 he netted 23 times as United won their first English title in three years.
The 2009-10 season represented the pinnacle of Rooney's goalscoring career, as he scored 34 goals in 42 games in all competitions for United. At the the 5-0 thrashing of Wigan at the DW Stadium on August 22, 2009, he scored his 100th and 101st goals for the club.
Rooney scored the winning goal in the 2010 League Cup final and though United missed out on domestic and European glory, he was rewarded for an impressive campaign with the PFA Players' Player of the Year Award.
Rooney agreed a five-year contract on Friday, just days after he said he wanted to leave the club.
Playing for England:
Rooney has been capped 68 times and has scored 26 goals.
He made his full England debut in the 2-0 Euro 2004 qualifying win over Turkey at Sunderland in April 2003. He became in Sept. 2003 the youngest ever England goalscorer at 17 years 317 days in a 2-1 Euro 2004 qualifying victory in Macedonia.
Rooney scored four times in the Euro 2004 finals before England bowed out in the quarter-finals to Portugal.
He almost missed the 2006 World Cup finals after suffering a foot injury two months before the start of the tournament. He failed to score in games against Trinidad & Tobago and Sweden and his tournament ended in misery after he was sent off in the quarter-final defeat by Portugal.
The striker was billed as a possible Golden Boot winner before the 2010 World Cup and the man to lead England to a first World Cup triumph in 44 years, however the striker's limp, goalless performances led to an early England exit in the second round.
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