Is Wayne Rooney The Most Underrated Player Of All Time? [How GOOD Was He Actually?]

[Music] okay first things first i know what some of you may be thinking that title is outrageous but just hear me out for a second five premier league trophies one fa cup three league cups one champions league the highest number of goals for both england and manchester united the second most goals in premier league history the third most assisted premier league history the most score scored in the champions league by an englishman and the 23rd highest scorer overall in the competition and perhaps the most legendary twitter account of all time these are only some of the accomplishments of the incomparable wayne rooney over his illustrious playing career in addition to that as a testament to his overall versatility he played as a striker his preferred position a winger a 10 even a six and varying points in his career although despite all the achievements i listed before if you ask someone who the best strikers were in the premier league era many might not even list them in their top five ahead of some of these guys listed here the same goes for just about all the other positions that he played in two in addition to that as recently as 2015 we had news outlets like the telegraph putting rooney at number 14 on their list of most overrated players of all time but why is that is way in rooney's career dare i say it underrated is there something i'm missing well if there is we're going to get to the bottom of it in this video so with that being said in addition to my previous questions how good was wayne rooney really and of course is he underrated [Music] yo what's up everyone trust you're all doing well and having a great day today we've got a special one coming up we're going to be looking at the career of one of the greatest players to grace the footballing world in the past few decades the main man himself wayne rooney also i just got off the phone with rooney himself he says if you like and subscribe he'll consider not putting you to sleep in 10 seconds i'd strongly consider listening to him anyway let's get right into it born in liverpool in 1985 wayne rooney was quite simply born to compete his family was filled with avid sportsmen with wayne of course being no exception his sports of choice boxing and football he took up both boxing and football from a young age and in his own words he even used to go straight to the boxing gym after football training in terms of football however this guy was insane in his youth a physical beast by just about all accounts of course this was partially thanks to his love for boxing but there was certainly more to it than that he was a technical genius too a player so good that his youth coaches found it difficult to coach him due to his raw talent perhaps one of the best quotes that encapsulates his dominance in his youth came from one of his coaches tim o'keefe in 2002. when talking about rooney's ability in his youth he went on to state he was once running through the middle with only the center half to beat and teammates wide on either side me and the other coaches were telling him to give it wide and his dad was telling him to take on the defender instead he ignored us all and just looked up and hid it in from 35 yards then he looked over at us and shrugged his shoulders before giving that big smile of his after scoring quite literally hundreds of goals at youth level before the age of nine he was scouted by everton and joined their youth academy over the next six years rooney rapidly progressed through the club's youth ranks and eventually played with the under-19s as a 15 year old he was almost exclusively deployed as a striker during this time period but he possessed great vision passing ability and control and for a stocky guy he had a very decent turn of pace about him a truly special talent in this time frame he was also forced to choose between boxing and football opting for the latter as we all know however he kept his physical attributes and the general mean streak that he developed as a boxer and simply transferred it over to football fast forward to one year in the future and the year is 2002 a 16 year old rooney had already been inducted into the everton first team he made his debut in a league cup match against tottenham hotspur and even managed to get an assist in the game as it ended in a 2-2 draw however what's ironic about this match in particular is the fact that the spurs fans were booing him and chanting who are you every time he touched the ball and well let's just say that those words aged like milk because only a couple months later remember the name wayne rooney that's right he scored his first ever premier league goal an absolute belter might i had against arsenal in late 2002. this was the second goal in a 2-1 win against the gunners not only did this goal end arsenal's 30-game unbeaten streak at the time but it also made rooney the youngest ever goalscorer in premier league history scoring only five days before his 17th birthday in the eyes of the world rightly so the star was born and only two years following this performance in 2004 rooney became a manchester united player at 18 years of age this was after united signed him for 27 million pounds making him the most expensive teenager in the history of football in his first two years of professional football at everton he had made 67 appearances scoring 17 goals despite his price tag and the skepticism that was attributed with shelling out that much money for a teenager rooney was surely a shrewd purchase at the time after all this guy was the real deal not only did he have an incredibly bright future ahead of him but at the time that he signed for united he had already made his debut for the english national team in fact he was arguably england's best player at the 2004 ua for euros scoring four goals in the four games that he played in and being named in the team of the tournament unfortunately england were eliminated by portugal on penalties in the quarter-finals regardless based on his performances in this tournament rooney was officially england's salvation he was the chosen one to lead england towards the silverware that they've been missing out on for so many years prior keep that in mind going forward in the story just before we move on although this has little to do with rooney as a player and what he achieved i felt compelled to draw some parallels between wayne rooney and paul gascoigne just out of interest in my last video we took a deep dive into the craziness that is paul gascoigne an incredibly talented and complex footballer who ultimately failed to reach his potential for one reason or another i also mentioned that both rooney and gasquet were very arguably the most naturally talented english footballers of their respective generations at this point it's common knowledge that one of wayne rooney's nicknames courtesy of the british media waza was a derivative of gascoigne's nickname gaza the reasoning for this was simple after all they did share a fair few characteristics they were both incredibly naturally talented both had stocky less traditionally athletic builds both had mean streaks in their early lives and teenage years and were both heralded as the poster boys for the england national team from a very young age however for the most part that's where the similarities end with a case of gascoigne is indicative of a player that failed to live up to the hype the case of rooney paints a rather different picture which is exactly what someone would say if they simply took a look at the differences in trophies and personal accolades between the two now of course football is about more than just stats and awards but i'm sure you get what i'm trying to say okay we're done with the pole gas going parallels but speaking specifically about his achievements and its accolades many still believe that rooney underachieved in his career and if i'm honest i'd have to agree relatively speaking of course and you may be asking relative to what i'm glad you asked at the time that rooney signed for manchester united they were in the middle of a rebuild several young and experienced players alike were being brought in to help bring silverware back to old trafford and as we all know one of these young players was cristiano ronaldo coincidentally both of them happened to be the same age and were both forward players and just in case anyone forgot at the time rooney was far in a way considered to be the better player of the two with a much higher ceiling and in case you don't believe me this was exemplified through the fact that rooney won the premier league young player of the season award twice in a row in his first two seasons at united remember that ronaldo played for the same team after scoring a hat-trick on his debut with the club in the champions league against fenerbahce he went on to score 27 goals and 65 appearances and made 11 assists in the 2004.05 and the 2506 season the hype was very real for rooney indeed in contrast ronaldo scored 14 goals and assisted 10 in 66 appearances in the same time period still some very solid numbers for a teenager but let's be honest rooney was on another level although united failed to win the league in this time period with chelsea running rampant but that was about to change very soon this takes us all the way through to the 2006 world cup following the 2005 06 season and once again england made it all the way through to the quarter-finals of the competition however they faced the same fate as they did in the euros two years prior being knocked out by portugal on penalties although one of the major differences between this tournament and the one two years prior was that rooney wasn't nearly as prolific this time around he had only just recovered from a broken toe beforehand and even tore his groin muscle during the tournament itself however he pushed on and still played and this resulted in him going goalless throughout the entire tournament and to make matters worse he was sent off in the quarterfinals after initially stamping on ricardo carvalho and then getting into an altercation with cristiano ronaldo looking back at this moment in hindsight you begin to realize that this was essentially the beginning of ronaldo pulling ahead of rooney by the time the next season came along both rooney and ronaldo were back to full fitness and had made up for their scuffle in the world cup however ronaldo came back different having worked on just about every one of his shortcomings in the offseason he was ripe and raring to go his strength decisiveness finishing and team play were significantly improved these were signified due to the fact that not only did cr7 win the young player of the year award this season but also the premier league player of the season and won two now i don't want you to get the wrong idea here rooney was also absolutely going off this season after all rooney and ronaldo both had 25 goal contributions throughout the season helping united reclaim the premier league title however the gap in their abilities became very clear from the next season onwards it became clear that united were looking to build the team around their portuguese star making him the focal point of the team's attack this led to rooney being forced to play second fiddle to ronaldo and being forced onto either wing or as an inside forward on occasion although to be fair with the addition of carlos tevers the front three of ronaldo rooney and tevez was extremely fluid with each player swapping positions frequently mid-game creating an organized chaos this occurred over the next two seasons resulting in united winning three premier league titles back to back to back i just want to clarify what i mean when i talk about playing second fiddle more than anything this showcased rooney's ability to sacrifice his own personal interest for the better of the team in doing so he had to work harder in defense to cover for ronaldo going forward drop deep into the midfield to be more involved in build up play make dummy runs to free up space for ronaldo and others generally play further away from goal and finally not contest for dead ball opportunities like free kicks and penalties despite his proficiency in them rooney did all of this and more and even taking what i've just said into consideration his goal scoring only dropped from 14 in the previous season to 12 in each of the next two seasons adding on to that he also missed a total of 15 games over this period due to injury essentially what i'm trying to say is that he still operated at an elite level despite being deployed in a supporting role rather than as the attacking focal point despite this articles like this were being floated about around mid-2009 these claimed that rooney had failed to live up to the hype that surrounded him since his explosive debut in the premier league apparently being a nailed on starter and a team that won three premier league titles one league cup and a champions league as well as the fact that he won a multitude of personal accolades just wasn't enough to convince the media otherwise having said that when you're being directly compared to arguably the best player to ever kick a ball in history it quite literally never will be by the end of the 2008-2009 season ronaldo made a big money move to real madrid and rooney was rightly so expected to make up for the goals lost in the ronaldo sale and well he not only stepped up to the plate in the 2009-2010 season but he pretty much knocked it out the park he was in insane form this season settling back into his favorite center forward position scoring 26 goals and 32 appearances in his best return by some distance he emphatically hit back at his critics although it wasn't all happiness and sunshine united lost out in the league to a formidable chelsea side by a single point not only that but some would argue that the month that followed this season marks the true beginning of rooney's decline in terms of his public perception at least following this incredible season from a personal perspective and going into the next rooney reportedly started questioning the ambition of manchester united as a club and their ability to attract top talent it's no doubt that seeing cristiano ronaldo leave for real madrid and manchester city absolutely destroying the transfer market led him to this thought this led to rooney submitting a transfer request the fans were shocked sir alex ferguson was shocked manchester united were shocked everyone was shocked rooney also refused to sign a contract extension for this reason although he gave assurance that he wasn't speaking out in search of higher wages many were left unconvinced this is especially considering the fact that he signed a new five-year contract for the club only two days after making his claims public what's more his contract was said to be worth double what he was previously being paid strike one over the next two seasons service more or less went on as usual as united reclaimed the premier league title rooney claimed 11 goals and 11 assists this season with one of those goals being this match winner in the matches to derby now i'm trying to think of a way to describe it but i'm struggling to think of one uh peter can you help me out here for a second cheers for that and in the next season despite rooney achieving his best goal scoring season to date scoring 27 united ended up losing the league to city on goal difference this prompted the purchase of robin van persie before the 2012-2013 season and meant that once more rooney would be forced to play second fiddle although this time he was deployed in a deeper more central role as a roaming 10. despite the fact that united won the league yet again rooney was in the headlines for all the wrong reasons once more at the end of the season ferguson stated that rooney had submitted yet another transfer request due to lack of playing time a claim that rooney later refuted whichever version of the story is the truth doesn't really matter at this point the damage was done and seeing that rooney signed a new 300 000 contract renewal only a few months later made the fans even more wary of rooney's retelling of the story strike two in the years that followed ferguson would retire and united would enter manager roulette shuffling through david moyes louis van gaal and jose mourinho all the while one of the only constants throughout this entire period was wayne rooney he was even named as the united captain following the departure of village in 2014 however to the surprise of just about everyone rooney endured one of the steepest physical declines in recent memory somewhere between 2014 where he was still only about 28 and 2016 it seemed as though his legs just weren't up to par anymore for manchester united this eventually led to his united exit in 2017 having spent 13 years at the club he was only 31 years of age at the time he later went on to return to everton briefly and then joined dc united in the us then returned to england as a player manager for derby county this culminated in his eventual retirement from football altogether in january 2021 as he settled into life as a full-time manager okay that was quite a bit of information let's take a short perception break [Music] okay that should do it given all of the information laid out in this video let's attempt to tackle the title of this video directly so is wayne rooney underrated yes yes i believe so there are several reasons for why i believe this to be the case many of which i've already noted in this video but let's summarize them real quick he sacrificed personal glory for the good of the team on several occasions by playing in supporting roles and still putting out elite numbers he showed his astute versatility by adapting to several positions based on the need of the team for the most part he flourished when given free reign to be the focal point in attack he bullied grown men as a teenager and finally if you don't believe that he was anything but elite just take a look at this man's achievements and like i've already said stats and awards aren't the be-all and end-all of rating players however with numbers like these it's really hard to argue that they don't paint a telling picture also in the interest of being balanced let's also outline some of the reasons for why many believe him to be overrated some of which i actually agree with by the way first things first he wasn't the main man in really any of his title-winning seasons with united having said that an argument can be made for the 2010-2011 season but even then the team was quite balanced with berbatov chicharito and nani all playing significant roles regardless i've already addressed why i don't believe this makes him overrated let's not mistake his selflessness for underperformance next up he underperformed for the england national team in crucial moments this one i can agree with i mean it took him three world cups to register his first goal ever in the competition other than that apart from the 2004 euros and world cup and euros qualification rounds he didn't really deliver on the expectations laid out in his early career his physical decline was incredibly rapid this one i can also agree with this was likely due to a combination of playing over 120 professional games before he even turned 20 a range of injuries which made him miss a total of 83 games over his career as well as his often aggressive playstyle and the fact that he didn't see the need to condition his body in the gym definitely added to his lack of longevity finally he publicly spoke out against manchester united on a few occasions and was rewarded with new contracts that doubled his wages each time and while this is definitely a damning strike on his public image it has nothing to do with his performances on the field which was still very good following these debacles therefore i see no reason to include this as a reason for him being overrated based on his playing ability if we wanted to tackle his public image that's a debate for another day overall wayne rooney was a remarkable player could he have achieved more sure but the same can be said for ronaldo or messi yes his life and career has been shrouded with controversy at certain times but in my opinion that takes nothing away from his stellar ability on the pitch simply put rooney was and still is an underrated legend and there we have it i'd be very interested to hear all your takes on rooney as a player do you think he was underrated overrated or rated just about right please feel free to leave your comments below now i tried to make this video as balanced as possible showing arguments for both sides of the video title in case you didn't already clock this i'm personally a huge rooney fan and truly believe that we did not appreciate him as much as we should have during his career for a player of his quality to willingly step back and allow others to shine for the good of the team all while putting in an absolute shift is something truly special apologies for the long video but this is a topic that i've been sitting on for quite a while and i really felt that it needed to be done in detail as always all the links to the sources used in this video the background music and all that good stuff can be found in the description if you like the content please feel free to hit the like button subscribe and turn on that bell notification for future videos as i would greatly appreciate it or not you know free country and whatnot no pressure anyway that's all from me trust you're all having an incredible day cheers and i'll catch you on the next one [Music]

Channel: Football Iconic

Views: 585,441

Keywords: Manchester United, Wayne Rooney, Everton FC, Football Iconic, Underrated

Id: e8NEucP2tBo

Length: 19min 25sec (1165 seconds)

Published: Sat Mar 13 2021