When Wayne Rooney first burst on to the scene as a fresh faced scouser the world was in awe at his sheer ability, Euro 2004 was his tournament and led to United splashing out £25.6million for his services, but over the years I believe he has never lived up to his full potential.
Ok, he might be trying to smash Sir Bobby Charlton’s all time top scorer record at United and is now the all time top England goal scorer, and he also scored that over head kick against Manchester City, which won United the Manchester Derby. But does all this make him world class?
I’m not denying he isn’t brilliant, but world class is a different category all together. In my personal opinion you need to have the following to be considering World Class…
– You can change the game with a touch of class
– Your team is built around your ability
– You score the vital goals
That means Cristiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi, Neymar and Luis Suarez are all world class. But can you add Rooney into this category?
This season Louis van Gaal has made Rooney his main striker, which I personally think is a massive mistake. Rooney just doesn’t play there.
At 29-years-old I still don’t think we have found his best position, which is a massive concern as he should by all accounts be in his prime. One week we find him playing as a deep holding midfielder, the next as a attacking midfielder – that’s where I’d play him.
He is only ever successful as a striker when he has a world class talent partnering him up top for either England or Manchester United.
Over the years he has had Van Nistelrooy, Ronaldo, Tevez, Berbatov and Van Persie alongside him. This has taken the light away from Rooney and I will admit in a few of the seasonS playing with these strikers he has been the club’s leading goal scorer, but not on many occasions. Three, to be exact.
From a club point of view, would he actually be a massive lost for the team? Shirt sales and sponsorship deals are the biggest attractions for United to keep hold of him.
And what about England? He is the captain and the face of our national team. He is close with Roy Hodgson and actually looks like he enjoys playing for the national side, but why is he captain? Just because he is the longest serving member of the England team, it shouldn’t automatically warrant giving him the armband.
And now the world class part?
Argentina got to the World Cup final because of some fella called Lionel Messi. Luis Suarez takes a average team like Uruguay and gets them to the last 16, and who know’s how far they would have gone if he hadn’t got the munchies mid-game Neymar took Brazil as far as he could before his injury, after which they were humiliated 7-1 by Germany.
These teams perform much better then they should because of one obvious factor – they all carry a world class talent, in Germany’s case maybe more than one.
England, with our ‘world Class’ talent in Rooney didn’t get out of their group.
For Rooney to make me change my mind (he would have to do a hell of a lot) is for him to take England or Manchester United to a final or, in England’s case, a semi-final at next year’s European Championships in France.
Manchester United won’t reach the Champions League final but if they do, and Rooney scores vital goals along the way, then perhaps I’ll listen to the claims he’s world class.
If England make the semi-finals in France next summer, and Rooney has scored winners or produced Man of the Match performances along the way, then perhaps I’ll listen to the claims he’s world class.
He need to start playing like a 29-year-old in his prime. He needs to take responsibility, and lead his team by example. I would love him to do that but already nine games into this new season he is showing he cant handle the pressure.
I really want him to change the tide and show the world what a talent he is, but he needs to start leading by example for both club and country, starting with the Manchester derby on Sunday.
If he wants advice on how to do that he needs to have a word with Steven Gerrard.
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