Wayne Rooney

Wayne Mark Rooney (born 24 October 1985) is an English people Association football who currently plays as a Forward (association football) for English Premier League club Manchester United F.C. and the England national football team.

Rooney began Wayne Rooney career with Everton F.C., joining their youth team at age ten and rising through the ranks. Wayne Rooney made Wayne Rooney professional debut in 2002 and Wayne Rooney first goal made Wayne Rooney the youngest goalscorer in Premier League history at the time. Wayne Rooney quickly became part of Everton's first team, spending two seasons at the Merseyside club. Before the start of the 2004–05 season, Wayne Rooney moved to Manchester United for £25.6 million and became a key member of the first team. Since then, Wayne Rooney has won the Premier League three times, the UEFA Champions League 2007–08 and also the Football League Cup.

Rooney made Wayne Rooney England debut in 2003 and at Euro 2004 Wayne Rooney briefly became the competition's youngest goalscorer. Wayne Rooney is frequently selected for the England squad and also featured in the 2006 World Cup.

Early life

Born on 24 October 1985 in Croxteth, Liverpool, Merseyside, Rooney is the first child of parents of Irish descent Thomas Wayne and Jeanette Marie Rooney (née Morrey). Wayne Rooney was raised in Croxteth with younger brothers Graeme and John Rooney (footballer), and all three attended De La Salle School (Liverpool). Wayne grew up supporting local club Everton F.C., and Wayne Rooney childhood hero was Duncan Ferguson.

Club career

Everton

After excelling for Liverpool Schoolboys and Dynamo Brownwings, Everton signed Rooney on schoolboy terms at the age of ten. Wayne Rooney was part of the youth squad, and after scoring in an FA Youth Cup match, Wayne Rooney revealed a T-shirt under Wayne Rooney jersey that read, "Once a Blue, always a Blue." Since Wayne Rooney was under 17 at the time and therefore ineligible for a professional contract, Wayne Rooney was playing for pound sterling80 a week and living with Wayne Rooney family on one of the country's most deprived Council house.

On 19 October 2002, five days before Wayne Rooney 17th birthday, Rooney scored a match-winning goal against reigning league champions Arsenal F.C.; in addition to ending Arsenal's thirty-match unbeaten run, it made Rooney the youngest goalscorer in Premier League history, a record that has since been surpassed twice; first by James Milner (footballer) and then by James Vaughan (footballer born 1988). Wayne Rooney was named BBC Sports' 2002-03 BBC Young Sports Personality of the Year.

At the end of the 2003-04 season, Rooney, citing Everton's inability to challenge for European competition (they had finished seventh the previous season and only just missed out on a UEFA Cup place, but in 2003-04 had narrowly avoided relegation and finished 17th), requested a transfer that Everton refused to oblige if the transfer fee was less than £50 million. A three-year, £12,000-a-week contract offer from the club was snubbed by Rooney's agent in August 2004, leaving Manchester United and Newcastle United F.C. to compete for Wayne Rooney signature. The Times reported that Newcastle were close to signing Rooney for £18.5 million, as confirmed by Rooney's agent, but Manchester United ultimately won the bidding war and Rooney signed at the end of the month after a £25.6 million deal with Everton was reached. At the time of the signing, it was the highest fee ever paid for a player aged under 20. Rooney was still only 18 years old when Wayne Rooney left Everton.

On 1 September 2006, Everton manager David Moyes sued Rooney for libel after the tabloid newspaper Daily Mail published excerpts from Rooney's Wayne_Rooney Personal_life_ that accused the coach of leaking Rooney's reasons for leaving the club to the press. The case was settled out of court for £500,000 on 3 June 2008, and Rooney apologized to Moyes for "false claims" Wayne Rooney had made in the book regarding the matter.

Manchester United

Rooney made Wayne Rooney United debut on 28 September 2004 in a 6-2 UEFA Champions League group stage win over Fenerbahçe S.K., scoring a hat-trick along with an assist. In September 2005, Rooney was sent off in a UEFA Champions League clash with Villarreal CF of Spain (which ended in a goalless draw) for sarcastically clapping the referee who had booked Wayne Rooney for an unintentional foul on an opponent.

Rooney was sent off in an Amsterdam Tournament match against F.C. Porto on 4 August 2006 after hitting Porto defender Képler Laveran Lima Ferreira with an elbow. Wayne Rooney was punished with a three-match ban by The Football Association, following their receipt of a 23-page report from referee Ruud Bossen that explained Wayne Rooney decision. Rooney wrote a letter of protest to the FA, citing the lack of punishment handed down to other players who were sent off in friendlies. Wayne Rooney also threatened to withdraw the FA's permission to use Wayne Rooney image rights if they did not revoke the ban, but the FA had no power to make such a decision.

During the first half of the 2006–07 season, Rooney ended a ten-game scoreless streak with a hat-trick against Bolton Wanderers F.C., and Wayne Rooney signed a two-year contract extension the next month that tied Wayne Rooney to United until 2012. By the end of April, a combination of two goals in an 8-3 aggregate quarter-final win over A.S. Roma and two more in a 3-2 semifinal first leg victory over A.C. Milan brought Rooney's total goal amount to 23 in all competitions and tied Wayne Rooney with teammate Cristiano Ronaldo for the team goalscoring lead.

Rooney collected Wayne Rooney first Premier League title winner's medal at the end of the 2006-07 in English football, but has yet to pick up an FA Cup winner's medal; Wayne Rooney had to settle for a runners-up medal in the 2007 FA Cup Final.

United announced during the post-season that Rooney had taken over the number 10 jersey that was vacated by Ruud van Nistelrooy, who had left for Real Madrid C.F. a year earlier. Wayne Rooney was presented with the shirt at a press conference on 28 June 2007 by former United striker Denis Law, who had also worn the number during Wayne Rooney tenure with the club in the 1960s and early 1970s.

On 12 August 2007, Rooney fractured Wayne Rooney left metatarsal in United's opening-day goalless draw against Reading F.C.; Wayne Rooney had suffered the same injury to Wayne Rooney right foot in 2004. After being sidelined for six weeks, Wayne Rooney returned for United's 1-0 Champions League group stage win over Roma on 2 October, scoring the match's only goal. However, barely a month into Wayne Rooney return, Rooney injured Wayne Rooney ankle during a training session on 9 November, and missed an additional two weeks. Wayne Rooney first match back was against Fulham F.C. on 3 December, in which Wayne Rooney played 70 minutes. Rooney missed a total of ten games and finished the 2007-08 season with eighteen goals, as United clinched both the Premier League and the Champions League, in which they defeated league rivals Chelsea F.C. in the competition's first-ever 2008 UEFA Champions League Final.

On 5 October 2008 in a road win over Blackburn, Rooney became the youngest player in league history to make 200 appearances. After scoring what turned out to be the only goal 54 seconds into a 1-0 defeat of Wigan, Rooney limped off with a hamstring ailment in the eighth minute. Wayne Rooney replacement, Carlos Tévez, was injured himself shortly after entering the game, but stayed in. Rooney was out for three weeks, missing one match apiece in the Football League Cup and FA Cup, along with four Premier League matches.

Paul Stretford controversy

In July 2002, while Rooney was with Everton, agent Paul Stretford encouraged Rooney and Wayne Rooney parents to enter the player into an eight-year contract with Proactive Sports Management. However, Rooney was already with another representation firm at the time, while Stretford's transaction went unreported to the FA, and Wayne Rooney was thus charged with improper conduct. Stretford alleged in Wayne Rooney October 2004 trial that Wayne Rooney had secretly recorded boxing promoter John Hyland (an associate of Rooney's first agent) and two other men threatening and attempting to blackmail Wayne Rooney for an undisclosed percentage of Rooney's earnings.

Stretford's case collapsed due to evidence that conflicted with Wayne Rooney insistence that Wayne Rooney had not signed Rooney, and on 9 July 2008, Wayne Rooney was found guilty of "making of false and/or misleading witness statements to police, and giving false and/or misleading testimony." Elizondo confirmed the next day that Rooney was dismissed solely for the infraction on Carvalho. Rooney was fined Swiss franc5,000 for the incident.

Personal life

Rooney is Roman Catholic. Wayne Rooney met Wayne Rooney wife, Coleen Rooney (née McLoughlin), while both were in their final year of secondary school. They married on 12 June 2008 after six years of dating, during which Rooney admitted to soliciting prostitution in Liverpool in 2004. "I was young and stupid. It was at a time when I was very young and immature and before I had settled down with Coleen." Wayne Rooney has a tattoo of the words "Just Enough Education To Perform," from an album title by Wayne Rooney favorite band, the Stereophonics; Coleen arranged for the group to play at their wedding reception. The wedding ran into some controversy with the Catholic Church. The couple, held a religious ceremony at La Cervara, a converted monastery near Genoa, despite being warned by the local bishop's office against the plan. The bishop's office told the Rooneys that La Cervara is deconsecrated and not suitable for a wedding. It suggested a different church, five miles away. Nevertheless, the couple ignored the advice and Father Edward Quinn, their local priest from Croxteth, presided over a ceremony in which rings were exchanged.

In April 2006, Wayne Rooney was awarded £100,000 in libel damages from tabloids The Sun (newspaper) and News of the World, who had claimed that Wayne Rooney had assaulted her in a nightclub. Rooney donated the money to charity.

The Rooneys reside in a £4.25 million mansion in the village of Prestbury, Cheshire, which was built by a company owned by Dawn Ward, the wife of former Sheffield United F.C. striker Ashley Ward. Wayne Rooney also owns property in Port Charlotte, Florida. While Rooney was house hunting in Cheshire after signing with Manchester United, Wayne Rooney spotted a pub sign that read "George Brydges Rodney, 1st Baron Rodney," which Wayne Rooney misread as "Admiral Rooney." Wayne Rooney nonetheless considered it a positive omen for Wayne Rooney future home. Rooney owns a Dogue de Bordeaux dog, which was reportedly bought for £1,250.

Rooney has endorsement deals with Nike, Inc., Nokia, Ford Motor Company, Asda, and Coca-Cola. Wayne Rooney appeared on four straight UK-version covers of Electronic Arts' FIFA (series) from 2005 to 2008.

On 9 March 2006, Rooney signed the largest sports book deal in publishing history with HarperCollins, who granted Wayne Rooney a £5 million advance plus royalties for a minimum of five books to be published over a twelve-year period. The first, My Story So Far, an autobiography ghostwritten by Hunter Davies, was published after the World Cup. The second publication, The Official Wayne Rooney Annual, was aimed at the teenage market and edited by football journalist Chris Hunt.

In July 2006, Rooney's lawyers went to the United Nations' World Intellectual Property Organisation to gain ownership of the Internet domain names waynerooney.com and waynerooney.co.uk, both of which Welsh actor Huw Marshall registered in 2002. Three months later, the WIPO awarded Rooney the rights to waynerooney.com.

Rooney's wife Coleen announced on 7 April 2009 that the couple are expecting their first baby, due in October.