“Remember the name,†Clive Tyldesley once hollered into the ears of aghastÂviewers as a rasping thunderbolt from a relatively unknown Evertonian ended Arsenal’s fabled Invincibles streak in the most mesmerising of fashions, just days before his 17th Birthday.
Nearly 15 years and 262 goals later – 250 for Manchester United – Wayne Rooney made sure his name would never be forgotten as a sublime strike against Stoke City, a curling free kick into the far inside netting from the acutest of angles on the left-hand side, completed his long-awaited coronation as the club’s all-time leading goalscorer.
Purchased for an initial £25.6million, Rooney’s cost United £5.12million per Premier League title, £2.84million per major trophy and just £102,4000 per goal – an exceptionally diminutive figure in the context of the modern transfer market.
Yet, whilst few doubt the Red Devils have got plenty of bang for their buck from their club captain – and despite his newly-cemented permanence in the annals of Manchester United and the England national team’s respective histories – the debate over convenient circumstance, flat-track bullying, excessive appreciation and whether Rooney’s ever qualified as truly world-class continues to rumble on.
Rooney may have ensured he’ll never be forgotten by club or country, but it seems varying sections of the footballing world will remember him differently; some fondly, some adversely and many with surprising indifference for a player backed so concretely by the history books.
But the contrast in opinions, especially in a sport as subjective as football, is more than understandable. For all of Rooney’s abilities, he’s always had a knack of producing absolute stinkers with little rhyme or reason. In a 3-1 defeat to Watford earlier this season, for example, a full ninety minutes produced no shots on target, no successful take-ons, just one created chance from open play and a miserly six forward passes. That’s one every fifteen minutes.
Of course, the last few years have ushered in Rooney’s inevitable decline, but his whole career has been littered with displays of that lowly calibre. When compared to Lionel Messi or Cristiano Ronaldo, or even elite players of slightly subordinate category, it’s rare to see such a vast spectrum in performance. Criticism is inescapable, especially if you wear the armband for a World Cup-winning country and the greatest side in Premier League history.
Whilst some has been justified – I think we’d all agree Rooney’s never come close to Messi and Ronaldo’s Ballon d’Or monopolising achievements – it’s hard to argue with the numbers. And for all the criticism relentlessly shovelled Rooney’s way, the numbers suggest a near one-in-two goalscorer, with plenty of assists to boot, who’s proved the difference for United on more than enough occasions to deserve his now historic status at Old Trafford.
“We thought more of him as a footballer – we didn’t reckon that he was an absolute out-and-out goalscorer. The evidence wasn’t there for that – he was an outstanding footballer and that was the reason we wanted him.”
Sir Alex Ferguson’s remarked on more than one occasion that when he initially brought Rooney to the club, paying a then-unprecedented fee for a 20-year-old, he didn’t view him as a natural goalscorer. That notion has been reflected repeatedly throughout Rooney’s career, which has seen him span both wings and all positions along the spine from defensive midfield to out-and-out centre-forward. In recent years particularly, the question of which role actually suits Rooney best has been a continuous point of contention.
Nonetheless, Rooney’s gone on to average 19 goals per season for the Red Devils (across all competitions), his highest haul being 34 in 2009/10 and 2011/12 – the latter campaign was one of the few in which he’s served as United’s first-choice striker – and his lowest, 14, coming during Louis van Gaal’s debut season at Old Trafford. That highlights the consistency in which he’s found goals for United, even if the last 18 months have brought just ten in the Premier League. Combined with his impressive haul of assists, Rooney’s contributed to a goal every 111 minutes of his on-pitch United career.
And far from common belief, a popular criticism of his record-breaking England haul, just 13.2% of his goals have come from the penalty spot, compared to 11.6% being headers. It seems unfair to lament a 5 foot 9 forward for converting his fair share of spot kicks – he’s also missed nine – when he’s claimed nearly as many goals with his head, in defiance of his aerially modest stature.
Likewise, the accusation of Rooney’s goals lacking significance falls flat when you judge it against the numbers. 110 have come in the last half hour of games, 52 have come in the final 15 minutes and nine have come in stoppage time. Perhaps even more tellingly, 31 – that’s 12.4% of his overall United haul – have been direct winners, whilst a staggering 82 have been result deciders, defined as goals which put the score line in the direction of the eventual result (e.g. the goal that puts United into a lead they hold onto – so the second goal in a 3-1 win, for example).
Furthermore, whilst Rooney’s record against high-quality opposition may not exactly be world-class, it’s certainly respectable for a player who has often found himself playing less advanced roles in big games.
Nearly one-fifth of his United goals have come at the expense of Arsenal, Liverpool, Chelsea, Manchester City or Tottenham – the rest of the Premier League’s current top six – and when adding his assists to the equation, the 31-year-old has played a part in 0.55 goals per appearance against said opposition. It’s perhaps not Messi or Ronaldo standard, but you’d be hard-pressed to find a player with a particularly superior record in the Premier League, especially over such a long period.
Of course, it’s impossible to overlook Rooney’s slump in recent years, affecting not only his goal tallies but his all-round performances. In truth, Rooney peaked physically a little too early in his career and by the time he was 25, he’d stopped bullying opponents in the same manner as his younger years.
Similarly, few would dispute that natural maturity and inheriting the club captaincy has changed the United skipper; far from the chav-some, baby-elephant-esque one-man wrecking ball that turned up at Old Trafford in 2004, Rooney’s become a gentrified, level-headed leader on the pitch and family man off it. Whether that’s for better or worse, inevitable or avoidable, is still up for discussion.
Nonetheless, the breakdown of Rooney’s record-breaking haul makes him hard to criticise. Whilst he may not be flawless, whilst he may be well along the path of decline, and whilst he may have transformed drastically from the player who signed from Everton 13 years ago, his goals for United are unrivalled in volume, consistency, variety and significance.
Yet, what comes next for Rooney remains to be seen. Many in the England international’s category retire at the club in which they’ve achieved legendary status, but as alluded to throughout this article, Rooney still has his many detractors at Old Trafford. Even Sir Alex Ferguson was reluctant to offer him a new contract in 2013, before David Moyes committed with no hesitation.
Still aged 31, Rooney in theory has many years left ahead of him, but the course of the last few seasons suggest they’ll unlikely be at top level. Any further contributions to his record-breaking tally will likely be marginal and sparse, considering he’s not even guaranteed a spot on the bench these days. So, what next for Wazza?
