The international break has come and gone, with club football poised to resume around the world this weekend, but for fans of England, that international break came with a very special break of its own: the all-time goalscoring record. Last Saturday, as England faced San Marino, Wayne Rooney tied Sir Bobby Charlton’s goalscoring mark with his 49th goal. Then, on Tuesday, Rooney buried a penalty shot in England’s match against Switzerland, notching his 50th—the most by any England striker.
Transfer sagas and badge-kissing controversy, goal gluts and goal droughts, position switching and hair plugs, not to mention a cabinet of club trophies, and the honor of England’s most ever first team goals: Wayne Rooney’s career has seen its fair share of headlines. But with this major record now in the books—and with a very forgettable 2014-2015 club campaign in the rearview mirror—what can we expect from the 29 year old striker in the year ahead?
Wayne Rooney: Center Forward
Playing for England at 17 years of age (then the youngest player capped, a record now held by Theo Walcott), Wayne Rooney has been tapped for greatness for over a decade. But even before his debut with the Three Lions on his chest, Rooney had made headlines. To say Wayne Rooney’s first Premier League goal was historic would be an understatement. At 16 years old, playing for Everton—the club with which he began his footballing career—against Arsenal in October of 2002, Rooney hit a screamer from 30 yards out late in the game to tally his first ever goal, making him, at the time, the youngest ever goalscorer in the Premier League.
But that wasn’t all. It wasn’t just a long-distance strike. It wasn’t just a last-minute match winner. It was the goal that ended the Invincibles. Until that point, Arsenal had been unbeaten for 30 matches consecutively, and it was a teenage Wayne Rooney who ended that run. Although he could not have predicted the slump of his own club in the coming decade, Arsene Wenger saw the future for Rooney, and knew it to be bright. Speaking to the press after that match, Wenger declared “There has certainly not been a player under 20 as good as him since I became a manager here. We were beaten by a special goal from a very special talent.”
In the past year, however, that ‘special talent’ has arguably not been put into the best positions to score more ‘special goals.’ Some might cite the 2014 -2015 Manchester United side’s suspect defense, a defense which allowed—despite David De Gea’s best efforts—opposing sides to get a one or even two goal lead a bit too often. Others would argue that Rooney didn’t receive the kind of service he’d been accustomed to in years past, frustrated that Angel Di Maria never fulfilled his potential at Old Trafford. But regardless of where one finds fault on the pitch, many might point even further back, to the basics of the team sheet, where Louis Van Gaal often chose to select Wayne Rooney as a midfielder, rather than an out-and-out striker.
Wayne Rooney, exceptional player that he is, was able to produce in midfield, but not nearly as successfully as he has at striker. Several analysts, including former Liverpool man Jamie Carragher, lamented Rooney’s midfield role last season. Rooney did manage to create more chances from midfield than from an attacking position, but in assists, shots on target, and, crucially, goals, his numbers all fell.
Although Van Gaal is unlikely to ever abandon his insistence that position fluidity is important, with both Radamel Falcao and Robin van Persie having departed this summer, and with Rooney’s major competitor at striker the promising but yet Premier League unproven Anthony Martial, England’s all-time leading goalscorer is poised to start up top throughout this season—and, hopefully, surpass last year’s mark of 12 league goals.
Is Rooney Making a Messi of England?
Following Wayne Rooney’s goalscoring landmark, Lionel Messi praised the England striker as a generational icon in England. “Wayne Rooney is for me a once in a generation player,” Messi proclaimed. “There are many special players, but Rooney has exceptional quality and technical ability as well as being one of the strongest players I have faced with an exceptional work rate. There is nobody like him.”
However, for all his his praise of Rooney’s ability and work ethic, and despite his statement that Rooney is incomparable to others, Messi recognized a bit of himself in the United man—and not necessarily for the better. “Rooney is a winner. He will just be focused on success with England in the European Championship. I have always said the same is true of myself and Argentina—breaking caps and goals records mean nothing unless they come with trophies.”
And, for both Wayne Rooney and Lionel Messi, at the senior international level, they have not come with trophies. Not a one.
In just over one month, Wayne Rooney will be 30. At this point in his career, Rooney has two, potentially three major international tournaments left (barring injury, of course): Euro 2016, the 2018 World Cup, and, with a bit of luck and more than a bit of stamina, Euro 2020. But despite the prospects of 2018 and 2020, Euro 2016 might be Rooney’s last best chance. He’ll be 30, still in the prime of his career, but inarguably in the latter portion of those prime years. In addition, England have a strong squad at the moment, a team that is not only unbeaten, but who have not dropped even a single point in the European Championship qualifying campaign.
Wayne Rooney is a professional. And as such, he will be wholly committed to Manchester United’s 2015 – 2016 season over the next eight months. But in 2016, it will not be at Old Trafford where his legacy’s place in history will be wrought. In truth, the Wayne Rooney remembered in Manchester lore has most likely already come and gone; Rooney will always be an Alex Ferguson signing, and an Alex Ferguson player. The Premier League three years running from 2007 – 2009, then again in 2011 and 2013, a handful of domestic cup trophies, and even the most coveted European prize of all, the Champions League in 2008—with United, Wayne Rooney has already won it all. The only thing left for him to do is to surpass Sir Bobby Charlton’s Manchester United goal record, in addition to his England mark. And with only 16 goals between them at United, that’s likely to fall in the next year or two as well.
For fans donning the Red Devil on their shirts, Rooney’s legacy is rock solid—the rest is just gravy (though, to be fair, that gravy is still tasty). But for those with the Cross of St. George draped around them, those with the Three Lions on the crest—for country, not for club—Rooney still has work to do. Messi knows it, we know it, and he himself knows it. On July 10, 2016, will Rooney step out onto the pitch at the Stade de France? Whatever his professionalism, in some corner of his mind, Wayne Rooney is already wondering—hoping.