Wayne Rooney crowned PFA Player of the Year
It’s been the season where Wayne Rooney finally completed his transition from boy to man.
After Cristiano Ronaldo departed for sunnier climes over in Madrid last summer, Manchester United were left heavily reliant on the goals of the England international striker to keep them in the hunt for a fourth consecutive league title. Stepping up to the mantle was never going to be an easy feat, even for the hugely able Rooney.
But nine months on, there’s little doubt that the striker has been equally as talismanic as the £80million Real Madrid man. Rooney has stepped up to the plate this season with aplomb.
Before the season kicked off, there were serious concerns voiced over United’s credentials; and Rooney, for all of his ability, was simply not thought of in the same bracket as his former teammate.
Doubted, written-off and effectively labelled as inadequate to lead the Red Devils to glory, more than a few critics should be tucking in to some humble pie before the season reaches its conclusion.
Rooney has been superb, scoring 34 goals so far this season - 26 of which have come in the Premier League. His reputation has shot through the roof from potentially world-class to unquestionably world-class, and he now finds himself talked about in the same breath as not only Ronaldo, but also Barcelona’s Lionel Messi.
Last night, the Manchester United forward was deservedly rewarded for his fine performances by being named the PFA’s Player of the Year by his fellow professionals.
The Liverpool-born striker beat off stiff competition from Didier Drogba, Cesc Fàbregas and Carlos Tévez to land his hands on the prestigious accolade for the first time in his career.
Having won the PFA’s Young Player of the Year award twice in consecutive years during the early stages of his career, Rooney has finally taken the main award, emerging from the shadow of the departed Portuguese winger in the process. Ronaldo won the main award in 2007 and 2008, with Rooney taking a backseat, despite going largely unnoticed as the heartbeat of the team.
It’s been an entirely different story over the course of the current campaign, with the United No. 10 finally back in his preferred centre forward role. All too often during the Ronaldo years, Rooney was forced to play wide or drop deep. A sacrificial pawn for the Portuguese showman.
In the manner of a true professional, he never once complained to manager Sir Alex Ferguson about the different positions he was asked to play in. Always a hundred per cent committed to Manchester United, compared to his want-away former teammate, Rooney has been a shining example of professionalism in recent years.
His questionable temperament has also vastly improved during this campaign - perhaps helped by the fact that he became a father for the first time last November. The two might not be intrinsically linked, but Rooney has only picked up seven yellow cards all season and has not been sent off once. He certainly seems far more composed nowadays in situations where the red mist would have inevitably got the better of him once before.
At just 24, it’s rather strange that it feels as if the striker has been on the football scene forever. It was October 2002 when Rooney announced himself to English football with that goal against Arsenal, prompting commentator Clive Tyldesley to utter the immortal sentence: “Remember the name... Wayne Rooney”.
Since then, he’s gone from strength to strength, and has now fulfilled that tremendous potential which he showcased as a youngster at Goodison Park.
A hat-trick against Portsmouth in November, a four-goal haul against Hull City in January, a brace against AC Milan in the San Siro a month later, not to mention further goals against the likes of Manchester City, Arsenal and Liverpool over the course of the campaign, are just a few of the highlights of a quite remarkable season.
If Rooney doesn’t end the year with a Premier League winners’ medal, it will be down to no fault of his own. And had he been fit to play the full 90 minutes against Bayern Munich in the Champions League quarter-final second-leg, it’s conceivable that Ferguson’s side would be just one match away from a place in next month’s final.
Including his goals for England, Rooney has netted 43 goals for club and country this season. This summer he will once again have to shoulder an unparalleled amount of expectation as Fabio Capello’s men head to South Africa for the World Cup finals.
Back in 2006, Rooney was infamously sent off in the quarter-finals for a stamp on Portugal’s Ricardo Carvalho. Keen for redemption, and determined to make an iconic mark on the world stage, the forthcoming World Cup will provide the ideal platform for the England striker to end his landmark season in true style.
With an air of confidence and self-assurance, Rooney has always had belief in his own ability. But now he knows for sure that he can produce in the biggest matches, in the biggest of competitions, when it matters most.
The newly crowned PFA Player of the Year could move a significant step closer to being named World Player of the Year for the first time if he can excel himself in South Africa. If their star man can, then England will have every chance of advancing past the quarter-final stage of the tournament for the first time in 20 years.
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