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Wayne Rooney retirement warrants more attention

The news trickled through the airwaves and onto the Twittersphere but it really should have exploded. In fairness, there was a good reason why Friday’s announcement of the retirement of Wayne Rooney from football was so understated; it was the subtext to a bigger, more important development. Rooney the player was no more because Rooney the manager had just been permanently confirmed by Derby County on a two-and-a-half year deal.

When such a well known footballer hangs up their boots, it is always a sad occasion. In the case of Wayne Rooney, though, his retirement was particularly poignant. The way his career developed made it easy to follow for a certain generation, whose first football memories came around the same time as Rooney’s debut for Everton in 2002 and that wonderful first goal against Arsenal’s future ‘Invincibles’.

The development of his game and those fans’ development football obsession were almost parallel. There was such a hype about Rooney, too; he was still days away from his 17th birthday when he scored against the Gunners at Goodison Park, but he was one of the first modern day players to develop a reputation in every corner of the sport. His reputation preceded the evidence because of what he had been achieving in the youth ranks, but also because of his physique. Even as a teenager, he looked like a man; built to take on the world.

Not surprisingly, he became England’s youngest ever player just a few months later and, by Euro 2004, he was the crown-jewel of the ‘Golden Generation’. Sven-Goran Eriksson has presiding over the most talented squad the country had produced in years, but Rooney held the key. He was the reason for everybody’s confidence; word of him had swarmed across the continent and he was fully expected to light up the tournament in the Portuguese sunshine. That is exactly what he did.

Four goals in three group games sent Rooney into a stratospheric rise, despite England losing to France in their first game. Anything genuinely felt possible ahead of the quarter final against the hosts Portugal because of Rooney; not only was he strong and direct in his play, but he was fearless and aggressive. He had no inhibitions, and that made him so dangerous for any opponent and also freed up his teammates who were often tied down by media expectation and scrutiny.

The metatarsal injury he picked up on that night in Lisbon, prior to an agonising penalty-shootout defeat, is still arguably the biggest ‘sliding doors’ moment in modern English football history. There hasn’t been a wave of momentum in a tournament since, nor as clear a route to success, given that Greece beat Portugal in the final. Rooney came away from that summer as the best young player on the planet, which was reflected in the fact that Real Madrid and Manchester United wanted to sign him.

England had a real talisman, surrounded by other world class players. It felt like ending the wait for a first trophy since 1966 was just a formality; there was no need to look enviously at other countries and their styles or approaches because there was faith in their own. Rooney’s raw ability and the unique freedom he played with bred real hope. After a long, drawn out saga, which included late bids from Newcastle United, the 18-year-old moved to Old Trafford for £27million in August 2004.

Again, he made an instant impact. Rooney was so hard to defend against because he would just go at players in his early days; the talent he had was unshackled and, to a degree uncontrolled, but in a positive sense. He scored a hat-trick against Fenerbahce in the Champions League on his debut, announcing himself not only to the Manchester United fans but also on a completely new stage at the highest level possible. Everything was taken in his stride.

As time went on and his game was refined, Rooney lost that boyish charm which made him so endearing when he burst onto the scene. It is perhaps this, and the fact that sections of the media soon began its typical crusade of tearing down those most often in the spotlight, which is the reason Rooney isn’t seen to have achieved everything he set out to in his career, despite winning five Premier League titles with the Red Devils and becoming their, and England’s, all time top goalscorer. Wayne Rooney wasn’t just a great goalscorer but a scorer of great goals.

Following the retirement of Wayne Rooney, there will always be a lingering feeling of unfulfilled potential about his career, rightly or wrongly. While he has proven himself to be one of this country’s finest ever players, for long periods it felt like he would earn that title hands down, having had a similar impact as Cristiano Ronaldo has for Portugal. Whether that was likely at any point is an unsolvable mystery; Rooney hasn’t looked after himself well enough at times, while also being a victim of his own quality. As a forward player who likes to drift, he was often used in the wrong position; he never had teams built around him, and never felt like the centrepiece to any of his successes, and rather a cog in the machine.

It wasn’t supposed to be that way; he emerged like a player capable of dominating, but he rarely did. The most notable thing about Rooney was how he debunked myths which arose after his time; mainly that it was impossible to be an elite player without that bit of natural magic more often found abroad. His physicality, aggression, pace, power, strength and intelligence — all inherently ‘English’ qualities — made him the player he was.

Wayne Rooney was the 21st century’s first English superstar, with the second most goals and the third most assists in Premier League history, and it is a shame that this chapter of his story has ended, with his retirement not getting the headlines it should. His legacy is a confusing one, caught between celebrating what he achieved and questioning whether he should have achieved more.

 


 

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