Wayne Rooney

Position         : Forward

Date of birth : 24 October, 1985

Team              : Everton (England)

Nationality     : England

Notes              : At the age of sixteen helped the Everton youth side reach the final of the 2002 FA Youth Cup with eight goals in eight games. Rooney followed this by helping the English youth international side to third place at the European U/17 Championships in 2002 with five goals. Rooney made his Everton debut in the first match of the 2002/03 season and soon became the youngest ever scorer in the Premier League a week before turning seventeen. This goals was a game-winning goal that broke Arsenal's thirty match unbeaten streak. Rooney became the youngest ever international for England at the age of 17 years and 111 days, beating the previous record of James Prinsep, who was 17 years old and 253 days old when he played in 1879. His impressive performance led to a regular place for both club and country at the still young age of seventeen. He finished the 2002/03 season with six goals from thirty-three matches, although most of these appearances came as late substitutions, to protect the youngster from injury. Rooney later became the youngest ever goalscorer for England at the age of 17 years and 317 days, bettering the record set by Michael Owen when scoring against Macedonia in September 2003. At the 2004 European Championships Rooney scored four goals to help England reach the quarter-finals.

LAST UPDATED: 17 July, 2004

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