Wayne Rooney's legacy

[kidbob]

Wayne Rooney is currently the all time goalscorer for Manchester United and England with 253 and 53 goals respectively. This is a great achievement but I feel as time goes on he's one of those players whose legacy will diminish because he wasn't as great as we thought he was. I know it sounds crazy especially after the opening sentence but hear me out.

Rooney burst onto the scene in spectacular fashion and as a 16 year old. The talent he possessed was actually scary. The things he was doing as a teenager made you almost sure he'd be a ballon d'or one day, if you were too young back then just look at it as you currently do with Mbappe. His Euro 2004 performances and his debut hattrick with us or his goal vs Newcastle at OT were things he did at 18 or younger. His first season with us he showed flashes of brilliance but was inconsistent as expected. The following season 2005/06 he began to show his great ability more consistently and was outstanding. He led us along with RVN that season and when Ruud was banished towards the end of the season he took a leading role alongside Saha and Ronaldo to a lesser extent. It was from this moment, I believed Rooney would go on an be unbelievable but he never really was outside of a couple of seasons at best.

His best seasons statistically were 09/10 and 11/12 where he bagged 34 goals. He also had an unreal 4 months or so towards the end of 10/11 (after an abhorrent start it must be mentioned). He was the true leader of the team in 09/10 and 11/12 both these seasons and we won nothing both years. In 10/11 the league was pretty much won without him although he was instrumental in reaching the CL final. Rooney was never really 'The guy' for us he was an excellent complementary piece.

I look at PL attackers in his time with better and more consistent and influential peaks and can anyone really argue against Drogba, Ronaldo, Suarez, Hazard, Torres, RvP, Aguero, Salah and even Kane.

Rooney had 16 seasons in the PL and never won PFA player of the year or won the golden boot and only made PFA team of the year three times. Kane for comparison has made PFA team of the year four times and won the golden boot twice in only 6 few seasons. Rooney has more talent in his toenail than Kane but Kane has proven to be more effective and consistently great than Rooney ever was. The same holds for all the others in that list.

Rooney's longevity is where he scores his points compared to his rivals. He was in the PL much longer than them and scored a good amount of goals each season. However he never truly delivered at his best consistently like others managed to.

The fact that you even for a second list them as being better than Rooney makes you're entire post a load of shit. Jesus man you talk about peak years and include Torres who had 2 good years before becoming a joke worse than Rooney's last year and Drogba who played well from the age of 25. Of the players you have mentioned Rooney is equal to Suarez and everyone not named Messi is worse than Ronaldo. What a joke of a post. If the Dailymail told you the sky was green would you believe it? But you believe their shit about Rooney to City, when Wayne himself said that he would have went abroad. You list 'Ronaldo; as a better legacy when he's the one who actually left us to go to a club who were much worse than us at the time. You realise Ronaldo left a team that had made back to back Champions League finals, winning one, for a team who had come nowhere near in the same years? What a load of shit of a post.

Rooney was an incredible player who gave us years of great performances. He didn't always hit the 'stats' that idiots love so much but anyone with eyes can tell he had way more than 2 great seasons. In fact he had closer to 6-7 than 2. The lack of respect for him is insane from our fans and you all should be ashamed of how little you know about football if you think Wayne Rooney wasn't one of the best players in our history and one of the best players of his era worldwide.

 

[Eyepopper]

he was more ordinary than extraordinary.

Oh, definitely, ordinary is the word.

 

[The_Midfielder]

In the current market,he is a 200M player..

 

[Green_Red]

The revisionist views of some of our players. Its almost as if posters didnt watch the games or soemthing. Rooney was feckjng immense and if he weee around today would cost £250+ million to sign. Unbelievable player.

Crazy that yes he could have been better but when better is being a Balon Dor winner ot scoring 25+ goals a season for 5 seasons in a row then youre not that fecking bad are you?

 

[The_Midfielder]

Oh, definitely, ordinary is the word.

add his goal against Milan..also one goal where he controls with left, and shoots with the right..and the ball didnt even drop to the floor...

 

[Crashoutcassius]

In reality football has and will continue to change over time to the point that we can't compare stats. Bit like nfl now where half of the present day quarterbacks will make the hall of fame

 

[pacifictheme]

Another thread to slate Rooney? Have you guys not done enough of this in a lifetime? Sometimes I feel like this fanbase of ours totally deserves decades of misery so you can all start to appreciate things much more.

Indeed.

Rooney was obviously one of out best ever players and one of the best players to play in the league. Hes our record goal scorer despite being played all over the attacking positions.

To suggest didier fecking drogba was better. Feck me. Check their goal scoring records lads, then think about how often drogba didn't play up top compared to rooney. Unbelievable really.

Rooney was overshadowed by ronaldo but every player in the last 10 to 15 years has been bar messi. I'd argue rooney was as vital in 07 08 as ronaldo, he was an utter beast and unlike the slave he actually didn't feck off.

 

[r0x0rwolfo]

Oh, definitely, ordinary is the word

We'd love a Rooney right now, throughout the vast majority of his playing career. He had real fight and desire to win, he could take a game by the scruff of the neck, making the pass imediately before the assist to his goal whilst legging it back to tackle a counter attacker. He was a beast.

However, like many great players he was rushed back from injury a few too many times. He also didn't take care of himself as well as he could. But for someone who didn't he was quite a player. We got 10 good years out of him, can't complain too much really.

 

[UnofficialDevil]

Nothing is tarnished, he is and always will be a United legend, one of the best.

 

[RUCK4444]

Oh please. Wayne Rooney was a mercurial talent, he was playing (and bossing) premier league football as a teenager.

In his younger years he was an absolute force of nature. At his best he was EVERYWHERE on the pitch.

He’s the most naturally talented English player there has ever been in my opinion. Not just a goalscorer, he offered so much more in build up and brilliant in all aspects of the game.

He could defend, counterattack, great range of passing, scored any type of goal from both inside and outside of the box, free kicks, headers.

The only area he was lacking was the massive dedication Ronaldo had. When they both first arrived as youngsters I would argue Rooney was comfortably the better player for United during that initial period.

Ronaldo is perhaps the most dedicated player of our time, if Rooney has some of that he would have been an even better player than he was already.

His record for United and England speaks for itself, his United goal record may never be broken.

His legacy was damaged by the latter years when United had stopped signing decent players and started relying heavily on a player who had a HUGE amount of miles on the clock for his age.
He was rushed back from injury too often also.

The city thing is hugely overplayed by snowflakes in my opinion, his agent was just trying to get the best deal possible for Wayne’s last big contract of his career, it happens all the time.

People forget so quickly how good he really was, like I say, a force of nature with no weakness to his game in his prime.

 

[Jeppers7]

Oh, definitely, ordinary is the word.

Sorry perhaps you feel he was actually Pele level ? Were you struggling by the last three clips ? The last one is actually doing Wayne a disservice, but then I could post four great Lingard goals.

I’ve already said he was a great player for us and one we’d kill for now. That doesn’t make him close to Pele level

 

[El Jefe]

The fact that you even for a second list them as being better than Rooney makes you're entire post a load of shit. Jesus man you talk about peak years and include Torres who had 2 good years before becoming a joke worse than Rooney's last year and Drogba who played well from the age of 25. Of the players you have mentioned Rooney is equal to Suarez and everyone not named Messi is worse than Ronaldo. What a joke of a post. If the Dailymail told you the sky was green would you believe it? But you believe their shit about Rooney to City, when Wayne himself said that he would have went abroad. You list 'Ronaldo; as a better legacy when he's the one who actually left us to go to a club who were much worse than us at the time. You realise Ronaldo left a team that had made back to back Champions League finals, winning one, for a team who had come nowhere near in the same years? What a load of shit of a post.

Rooney was an incredible player who gave us years of great performances. He didn't always hit the 'stats' that idiots love so much but anyone with eyes can tell he had way more than 2 great seasons. In fact he had closer to 6-7 than 2. The lack of respect for him is insane from our fans and you all should be ashamed of how little you know about football if you think Wayne Rooney wasn't one of the best players in our history and one of the best players of his era worldwide.

I'm not sure you're getting my point. I didn't say all the players in the list were better than Rooney. I'm saying they played at their peaks better and more consistently than Rooney did.

Rooney was an unbelievable player but his true quality only shone for parts of the season. He was the perfect piece of the puzzle in our great teams but when he was the main man he never led us to trophies. He played second fiddle to Ronaldo and RVP. Saying he had closer to 6/7 great seasons that 2 just isn't true.

04/05 - Fairly good debut season with brilliant high points mixed with inconsistency (7)
05/06 - Very good season and formed a great partnership with RVN (8.5)
06/07 - Another very inconsistent season, had some excellent high points and some long barren spells (7.5)
07/08 - Formed a legendary partnership with Tevez and Ronaldo, his all round game was elite but he struggled with finishing (7.5)
08/09 - Another inconsistent season but SAF moved him around a lot. Had great periods of form and was probably his most selfless season for us (7.5)
09/10 - Assumed the goal scoring responsibility after Ronaldo left and was immense. Became lethal in the air too (9)
10/11 - First half of the season he was rotten (4) second half of the season was his best ever IMO (9.5) - overall (7)
11/12 - Goal scoring was on par with his best but after his great start his performances were quite poor but always scored (8)
12/13 - Falling out with SAF and overtaken by RVP as our main man. Some brilliant assists this season but overall not good (6.5)

Anything after these seasons was nowhere near great and he fell of a cliff drastically. I see only 2 great seasons in there, I could give you 11/12 also but I really wasn't impressed with his performances over 90 minutes that season.

 

[Indnyc]

I look at old Rooney videos and it makes me so sad.. One of the best players in arguably our most successful period..

Good god what would I not give to have him in our team right now.. People seem to have no recollection on how good he was

Just because he didn’t become Ronaldo or Messi doesn’t mean he wasn’t fecking brilliant

 

[Art]

I look at old Rooney videos and it makes me so sad.. One of the best players in arguably our most successful period..

Good god what would I not give to have him in our team right now.. People seem to have no recollection on how good he was

Just because he didn’t become Ronaldo or Messi doesn’t mean he wasn’t fecking brilliant

Precisely. He was one of the center pieces in Sir Alex's attack during Uniteds most successful periods in the premier league..

And the part in bold, no-one in our team is even fit to lace a 25 year old wazzas boots. We'd be top 4 if our players had a fraction of his winning mentality. Man hated to lose, marauding thru defenders and never backing down when we were a goal or two.

It's crazy that his greatness needs justification besides his incredible statistics for United because of his inevitable decline for us. In his prime, I'd take him over any premier league striker and that includes aguero. Hes the definition of United quality.

 

[VJ1762]

"I saw my mate the other day,
He said to me he saw the white Pele,
So I asked, who is he?
He goes by the name of Wayne Rooney, Wayne Rooney, Wayne Rooney,
He goes by the name of Wayne Rooney..."

My favourite Utd footballer. He didn't scale the peaks that his talent suggested he could, but if any of our attackers even had an ounce of his talent, we wouldn't be sitting at 14th position right now. Players like Martial, Pogba, rashford et al are not even close to Wayne's ability when he was 23-24 years old. He is a United legend, and is among the 10 best players to have ever played for the club.

Now if you will excuse me, I am off to watch some Wazza highlights on Youtube.

 

[DVG7]

For as long as Rooney is the top scorer of our club, his legacy remains untouchable. We are undeniably one of the most famous sports teams in the history of sport, and he wont be overtaken as top scorer for at least another generation I imagine. I don't necessarily like Rooney the man, but Rooney the player can feel hard done by if anyone draws up a top 10 united players of all time and doesn't include him on it.

One thing I could never get my head around with Rooney was his short, intricate passing. I might be re-writing history, but he really wasn't the type of player you would play one touch with or expect to work some triangles around the opposition, and whilst he was hugely adept at switching the ball from left to right with almost Scholes-like accuracy, he was distinctly average when it came to threading through balls, and this is exacerbated by the fact that it's really difficult to find a decent "Rooney assist's" video on Youtube. For someone who played in such an advanced role, with the pace and dynamism he regularly had getting beyond him, i'd expect there to be some more eye catching slotted passes in behind but as it stands, his most beautiful assist actually came for DC united in the MLS, although admittedly for me that's outshone by that glorious over the top ball to RVP on the day we last won the league.

I think on his day he was absolutely unplayable, and he had a lot of those days as a teenager which is frightening. Even prior to the way he took that ball down on his debut for Everton versus Arsenal, it was so obvious that we were watching the next big thing in the premier league, and then he goes and rattles it in off the underside of the crossbar for good measure. I think the hype was completely justified, and he eventually became a victim of his own spectacular because he put in so many 9/10 displays early in his career, that it took the shine off some very respectable 7 and 8/10 performances and we judged him based on what we knew he could be, as opposed to the industrious and effective player he was for probably 80% of his career. The last year or so was pretty painful to watch, and I think Jose Mourinho never got enough credit for how well he handled the situation with Rooney, in that he almost phased him out without anyone kicking up a fuss about it.

A legend of Manchester United and a legend of the Premier league, no question.

 

[RUCK4444]

"I saw my mate the other day,
He said to me he saw the white Pele,
So I asked, who is he?
He goes by the name of Wayne Rooney, Wayne Rooney, Wayne Rooney,
He goes by the name of Wayne Rooney..."

My favourite Utd footballer. He didn't scale the peaks that his talent suggested he could, but if any of our attackers even had an ounce of his talent, we wouldn't be sitting at 14th position right now. Players like Martial, Pogba, rashford et al are not even close to Wayne's ability when he was 23-24 years old. He is a United legend, and is among the 10 best players to have ever played for the club.

Now if you will excuse me, I am off to watch some Wazza highlights on Youtube.

Sounds dramatic but I would not hesitate for a split second in trading all three of these players for Rooney is his prime.

He was a different animal.

 

[UnofficialDevil]

Wayne Rooney is currently the all time goalscorer for Manchester United and England with 253 and 53 goals respectively. This is a great achievement but I feel as time goes on he's one of those players whose legacy will diminish because he wasn't as great as we thought he was. I know it sounds crazy especially after the opening sentence but hear me out.

Rooney burst onto the scene in spectacular fashion and as a 16 year old. The talent he possessed was actually scary. The things he was doing as a teenager made you almost sure he'd be a ballon d'or one day, if you were too young back then just look at it as you currently do with Mbappe. His Euro 2004 performances and his debut hattrick with us or his goal vs Newcastle at OT were things he did at 18 or younger. His first season with us he showed flashes of brilliance but was inconsistent as expected. The following season 2005/06 he began to show his great ability more consistently and was outstanding. He led us along with RVN that season and when Ruud was banished towards the end of the season he took a leading role alongside Saha and Ronaldo to a lesser extent. It was from this moment, I believed Rooney would go on an be unbelievable but he never really was outside of a couple of seasons at best.

His best seasons statistically were 09/10 and 11/12 where he bagged 34 goals. He also had an unreal 4 months or so towards the end of 10/11 (after an abhorrent start it must be mentioned). He was the true leader of the team in 09/10 and 11/12 both these seasons and we won nothing both years. In 10/11 the league was pretty much won without him although he was instrumental in reaching the CL final. Rooney was never really 'The guy' for us he was an excellent complementary piece.

I look at PL attackers in his time with better and more consistent and influential peaks and can anyone really argue against Drogba, Ronaldo, Suarez, Hazard, Torres, RvP, Aguero, Salah and even Kane.

Rooney had 16 seasons in the PL and never won PFA player of the year or won the golden boot and only made PFA team of the year three times. Kane for comparison has made PFA team of the year four times and won the golden boot twice in only 6 few seasons. Rooney has more talent in his toenail than Kane but Kane has proven to be more effective and consistently great than Rooney ever was. The same holds for all the others in that list.

Rooney's longevity is where he scores his points compared to his rivals. He was in the PL much longer than them and scored a good amount of goals each season. However he never truly delivered at his best consistently like others managed to.

What a load of crap. I bet you are really young or something that might explain it, if not you must have something against him. And that City story is a load of shite too. Rooney never handed in a transfer request. He has denied that in interviews.
He played his whole career with us and yet we still come up with shite like this. yet we still sing Viva Ronaldo even though he constantly tried to leave us for Madrid.

Rooney is one of our best ever players I only wish we had someone like him again sometime in the future, doubt we ever will though.

 

[tenpoless]

For me personally, Rooney the player is never about his goalscoring records only. He also sacrificed a lot for the team. He played as Midfielder, SS, CF, Wide forward, even dropping deep to win the ball. You rarely see a top top player wanting to work like a horse on the pitch like He did.

The best period in my opinion was when He carried us after Ronaldo left the club. One can argue that had He played as a CF, He would've turned into a better striker. While that might be true, He'd be no different than the rest top strikers. His playstyle makes him unique and He was a team player + a fantastic stiker.

 

[TsuWave]

I recognise him as a club legend and a very good player. Never thought of him as world class.

I am fully aware that my opinion will be out of place, but its just my opinion and i've had it for years:

Good player over the years and his contribution to our success should not be glossed over but Rooney is one of those weird cases for me, never thought of him as "world class" and a part of me always felt like his status/reputation was somewhat pushed by the media and less so a true reflection of his ability.

 

[Redplane]

Too lazy to type up every reason why but anyone thinking Rooney doesn't deserve some kind of long term recognition for his contributions to the club is a fool imho, or only watched United the last few years he was here.

I expect him to have something named after him at OT or perhaps even get a sculpture of sorts. And it will be fully deserved.

 

[Eyepopper]

Sorry perhaps you feel he was actually Pele level ? Were you struggling by the last three clips ? The last one is actually doing Wayne a disservice, but then I could post four great Lingard goals.

I’ve already said he was a great player for us and one we’d kill for now. That doesn’t make him close to Pele level

How many games did you watch Pele play?

 

[amolbhatia50k]

Salah, Torres, Drogba? Come on now. Rooney was much better than all of them.

I'd have him up there with the likes of Aguero among the PL's greatest ever attackers. As with Drogba, you cannot merely look at statistics and form a judgment on Rooney. His contribution outside the penalty box was on a different level to Aguero, Kane etc He would press, chase, tackle, drop deep and playmake, put crosses in, the whole lot. At his peak, he was real force of nature.

The OPs list just shows how underrated he was. It's true that I expected his peak to be higher. I thought it would match Henrys but nobody in this league has ever reached Henry's level for me so that doesn't mean Rooney is right up there.

On another note given Rooney's energy and brute force it would have been interesting to see him arrive in this era of hyper alert press.

 

[noodlehair]

Wayne Rooney is currently the all time goalscorer for Manchester United and England with 253 and 53 goals respectively. This is a great achievement but I feel as time goes on he's one of those players whose legacy will diminish because he wasn't as great as we thought he was. I know it sounds crazy especially after the opening sentence but hear me out.

Rooney burst onto the scene in spectacular fashion and as a 16 year old. The talent he possessed was actually scary. The things he was doing as a teenager made you almost sure he'd be a ballon d'or one day, if you were too young back then just look at it as you currently do with Mbappe. His Euro 2004 performances and his debut hattrick with us or his goal vs Newcastle at OT were things he did at 18 or younger. His first season with us he showed flashes of brilliance but was inconsistent as expected. The following season 2005/06 he began to show his great ability more consistently and was outstanding. He led us along with RVN that season and when Ruud was banished towards the end of the season he took a leading role alongside Saha and Ronaldo to a lesser extent. It was from this moment, I believed Rooney would go on an be unbelievable but he never really was outside of a couple of seasons at best.

His best seasons statistically were 09/10 and 11/12 where he bagged 34 goals. He also had an unreal 4 months or so towards the end of 10/11 (after an abhorrent start it must be mentioned). He was the true leader of the team in 09/10 and 11/12 both these seasons and we won nothing both years. In 10/11 the league was pretty much won without him although he was instrumental in reaching the CL final. Rooney was never really 'The guy' for us he was an excellent complementary piece.

I look at PL attackers in his time with better and more consistent and influential peaks and can anyone really argue against Drogba, Ronaldo, Suarez, Hazard, Torres, RvP, Aguero, Salah and even Kane.

Rooney had 16 seasons in the PL and never won PFA player of the year or won the golden boot and only made PFA team of the year three times. Kane for comparison has made PFA team of the year four times and won the golden boot twice in only 6 few seasons. Rooney has more talent in his toenail than Kane but Kane has proven to be more effective and consistently great than Rooney ever was. The same holds for all the others in that list.

Rooney's longevity is where he scores his points compared to his rivals. He was in the PL much longer than them and scored a good amount of goals each season. However he never truly delivered at his best consistently like others managed to.

I think it's the opposite to be honest. After the first contract fiasco in 2011 Rooney was more often criticised than appreciated, and the opinion of him became more and more overly negative.

For someone who liked to be caught drinking beer in the executive box during games and struggled to keep up a basic fitness level he did remarkably well to maintain such a high level for so long. That's a double edged sword obviously, but his performance levels at United were extremely high for 9 years before he began to drop off...and even then, his decline followed the rest of the team's when SAF retired, and he didn't drop off nearly as quickly as a lot of the others.

9 years is a very long time to maintain such a high standard at the same club...particularly one that was winning trophies nearly every year. None of the players you've listed have managed that barring Ronaldo. You are looking more at needing to list players like Giggs, Scholes, Terry etc. as fair comparisons.

I think the problem is people remember the post SAF years where his fitness really suffered and the team as a whole was not succesful. Unfortunately after we caved in to contract demands post SAF despite Rooney being past his best, he also kind of became what's been wrong with the club in recent years...but I would argue that's down to Woodward rather than him.

When you look at the attitude of the supposed superstars we've relied on since Rooney, he stands up pretty favourably.

 

[thepolice123]

Bit daft to bring up the Man City fiasco when OP is only talking about Rooney's legacy as a footballer.

In hindsight, young Rooney was extremely overrated by the English media. His fearlessness and perchant for the spectacular lead the media to build him up to almost a guaranteed GOAT status, which probably led to disappointments at the player he eventually turned out to be.

Imo what set him apart from other wonderkids at that time was not his technical ability but rather his intensity and a developed physical build which allowed him to translate his abilities better on the pitch. Technical ability wise, you can tell he was good but not great. His dribbling was basically kick-and-rush. His close control and touches were very suspect as well. I think the United coaches did well to make him a more complete forward and they focused on the abilities that really matter.

Young Rooney bum rushing defenders style of football was a sight to behold in the past but no way its going to be effective in the long run.

 

[iluvoursolskjær]

Rooney is a United legend, not an ounce less. Integral in one of our club's most successful periods. Is our highest goal scorer ever despite being a team player that mostly played a supporting role to other forwards. Not to mention his extraordinary talent apparent at such a young age.

Don't give a shit about the City saga, he was right to point out our lack of ambition based on our transfer policy. Didn't take that personally, more a message to the club.

To suggest his legacy is anything but is stupid.

 

[Class of 63]

Nowt special, a poor mans Andy Ritchie!

 

[Jose Mourinho MUFC]

Wayne Rooney is currently the all time goalscorer for Manchester United and England with 253 and 53 goals respectively. This is a great achievement but I feel as time goes on he's one of those players whose legacy will diminish because he wasn't as great as we thought he was. I know it sounds crazy especially after the opening sentence but hear me out.

Rooney burst onto the scene in spectacular fashion and as a 16 year old. The talent he possessed was actually scary. The things he was doing as a teenager made you almost sure he'd be a ballon d'or one day, if you were too young back then just look at it as you currently do with Mbappe. His Euro 2004 performances and his debut hattrick with us or his goal vs Newcastle at OT were things he did at 18 or younger. His first season with us he showed flashes of brilliance but was inconsistent as expected. The following season 2005/06 he began to show his great ability more consistently and was outstanding. He led us along with RVN that season and when Ruud was banished towards the end of the season he took a leading role alongside Saha and Ronaldo to a lesser extent. It was from this moment, I believed Rooney would go on an be unbelievable but he never really was outside of a couple of seasons at best.

His best seasons statistically were 09/10 and 11/12 where he bagged 34 goals. He also had an unreal 4 months or so towards the end of 10/11 (after an abhorrent start it must be mentioned). He was the true leader of the team in 09/10 and 11/12 both these seasons and we won nothing both years. In 10/11 the league was pretty much won without him although he was instrumental in reaching the CL final. Rooney was never really 'The guy' for us he was an excellent complementary piece.

I look at PL attackers in his time with better and more consistent and influential peaks and can anyone really argue against Drogba, Ronaldo, Suarez, Hazard, Torres, RvP, Aguero, Salah and even Kane.

Rooney had 16 seasons in the PL and never won PFA player of the year or won the golden boot and only made PFA team of the year three times. Kane for comparison has made PFA team of the year four times and won the golden boot twice in only 6 few seasons. Rooney has more talent in his toenail than Kane but Kane has proven to be more effective and consistently great than Rooney ever was. The same holds for all the others in that list.

Rooney's longevity is where he scores his points compared to his rivals. He was in the PL much longer than them and scored a good amount of goals each season. However he never truly delivered at his best consistently like others managed to.

People rave about Kante being everywhere on the pitch and like playing with an extra player. Yet Rooney does those exact same things (Central, wing, attack, defend...) WHILE still scoring goals enough to make it to Manchester United's top scorer. If that is not the best definition of a dedicated legend, I don't know what is.

You would never find another forward who is so lethal and talented at a young age as him, yet being so selfless in the final third. That is the greatest combination a team could ask for, yet a curse for him (Fergie moved him around and made him accommodate others). This still doesn't prevent him from scoring goals on the same level of other top scorers in the Premier League (Regular scorers, not supermen like Ronaldo and Messi). In a way, you could say Fergie sacrificed Rooney's greatest ceiling in exchange for Manchester United's success. Fergie did exactly what the manager had to do, which in some cases is not the best thing for an individual (Rooney). Yet Rooney never complained about it in public. The only time he ever complained and asked to leave was when he questioned the team's ambition for trophies. Isn't this the exact type of mentality you guys are crying for in our current squad?

If things went according to what Fergie planned and Rooney was sold to Chelsea in 2013 (Mourinho was really adamant about this sale), Chelsea would have won the League in 2013-2014 season. And Mourinho would have won another back-to-back titles with Chelsea. However, Rooney stayed with us and got to the greatest scoring number in our club's history. Questioning his legacy is "out of question" to me.

 

[choiboyx012]

Bit daft to bring up the Man City fiasco when OP is only talking about Rooney's legacy as a footballer.

In hindsight, young Rooney was extremely overrated by the English media. His fearlessness and perchant for the spectacular lead the media to build him up to almost a guaranteed GOAT status, which probably led to disappointments at the player he eventually turned out to be.

Imo what set him apart from other wonderkids at that time was not his technical ability but rather his intensity and a developed physical build which allowed him to translate his abilities better on the pitch. Technical ability wise, you can tell he was good but not great. His dribbling was basically kick-and-rush. His close control and touches were very suspect as well. I think the United coaches did well to make him a more complete forward and they focused on the abilities that really matter.

Young Rooney bum rushing defenders style of football was a sight to behold in the past but no way its going to be effective in the long run.

This. He was overshadowed by Ronaldo, but he was just as vital in our success and our overall playing style. Came up with big goals, assists, and played for the team, getting the best out of Ronaldo, Ruud, tevez, Nani, RVP. I loved his aggressive style of play and intensity. He showed that from day 1 and was exciting and inspirational to watch as just a teenager being so fearless against grown men. He was a complete forward and footballer, which is why he doesn't have the "stats" of other number 9s. I loved watching rooney, more than ronaldo personally. Despite being our best player, I remember Ronnie being very frustrating to watch with all the sulking and sitting on the pitch after getting fouled.

 

[MyOnlySolskjaer]

Having him and Tevez upfront was fantastic, both were aggressive, hard working and fantastic techncially. Adding Ronaldo was just overkill.

But Wayne unfortunately doesn't get the credit he deserves. He is one of the best players in the history of the club and was integral to our most successful era in club history. For me, he had greater impact on the club than Cantona.

 

[King7Eric]

People on here bemoan when others believe what they consider to be lies by the media, but have no problem themselves accepting lies when it fits their agenda. Rooney had made it clear repeatedly he never would have gone to City and had never even thought about where he would go if he left, but it wouldn't have been in England.

Even SAF didn't mention anything about City in his biography. But people will believe what they want to believe, facts are just a hindrance.

On his legacy, probably amongst the best players I saw play for Utd. The only players I'd rate higher than him whom I saw would be Ronaldo, Scholes and Giggs. People who say he never had great back to back seasons either never saw him or have bad memories. He only played as an out and out CF for 2 seasons and scored 34 goals in both. He was always played in different positions and still until his last 2 seasons, his output was always high.

5 PL titles, CL title, highest goal scorer for club and country, a PFA player of the year. How many players can boast all this?

 

[Nevilles.Wear.Prada]

Very few gave us more mileage than this guy. Led us into great heights and sometimes worked his arse off. A few distasteful incidence aside he will live on as one of the greatest player in the history of Manchester United and the game. I wanted him to be moved on even during SAFs final season but it was not meant to be. We all would kill to have the guys presence on the pitch now. Good on you wayne, God bless.

 

[Volumiza]

2004 - 2009 he was one of the very best players in the league and a joy to watch. Perfect package of raw power and instinct. He would have been on almost everybody’s shopping list during those years.

Yes he declined a bit and wasn’t always the most professional player in terms of his off the pitch lifestyle but during those years he was a beast.

Top scorer for country and top scorer for Utd says it all. Screw all the rest, the guy was a phenomenon for a few years and realistically could never have maintained that intensity as he got older.

 

[Jeppers7]

How many games did you watch Pele play?

I'm not sure what your point is here? You think Rooney is in that bracket of player to be considered one of the top three players of all time ?

 

[Reddevil1978]

I loved Rooney, World class in his prime more often than not, if he never done his metatarsal in at the quarter finals of Euro 2004 I believe we would of won it.

I would be over the moon to have a young Rooney type again. Passion, team work, great engine, very good at defending, attacking passing. An early decline but he started so good at a young age.

Like most United fans I still keep tabs on him in the states.

 

[Vidyoyo]

Wayne Rooney is one of the greatest players of his generation, and one of the best players to ever play for our club.

 

[arnie_ni]

I'm not sure what your point is here? You think Rooney is in that bracket of player to be considered one of the top three players of all time ?

your not quoting me but you brought pele into the conversation not the other guy

 

[Jeppers7]

Rooney is a United legend, not an ounce less. Integral in one of our club's most successful periods. Is our highest goal scorer ever despite being a team player that mostly played a supporting role to other forwards. Not to mention his extraordinary talent apparent at such a young age.

Don't give a shit about the City saga, he was right to point out our lack of ambition based on our transfer policy. Didn't take that personally, more a message to the club.

To suggest his legacy is anything but is stupid.

Didn't he take a hefty pay rise personally for his efforts there? Didn't see a change in transfer policy from the club as a result. I'd have had some respect if he'd have left at the time. But nah he just doubled his salary and was content

 

[arnie_ni]

Wayne Rooney is one of the greatest players of his generation, and one of the best players to ever play for our club.

Nothing else needs said here. Cant believe some of what i read on this board re Rooney

 

[arnie_ni]

I loved Rooney, World class in his prime more often than not, if he never done his metatarsal in at the quarter finals of Euro 2004 I believe we would of won it.

I would be over the moon to have a young Rooney type again. Passion, team work, great engine, very good at defending, attacking passing. An early decline but he started so good at a young age.

Like most United fans I still keep tabs on him in the states.

Im not an england fan and even i agree with this. Euro 2004 was your big chance and that injury screwed it