Wayne Rooney's Biography

Who is Wayne Rooney?

Wayne Rooney was born on 24 October 1985 in Liverpool. On 31 August 2004 he was signed by Manchester United, having played throughout his career for Everton.

Of his £27 million transfer to Manchester United, Rooney said: "It was a tough decision to leave Everton, the club I've supported and played for all my life, but I'm excited to be joining a club as big as Manchester United."

His new boss Alex Ferguson said: "I am very excited, I think we have got the best young player this country has seen in the past 30 years".

Wayne Rooney later revealed in his autobiography that: "I would have gone almost anywhere just to get away from David Moyes".

Rooney was impressive before Euro 2004, but shot up in value in that competition with his brilliant performances before he broke his metatarsal bone playing against Portugal - a game that England lost after his departure from the pitch.

Wayne Rooney was named in UEFA's All Star squad of Euro 2004.

Rooney's Premiership debut came against Spurs on the opening day of the 2002/03 season, but his first ever goal came in October 2002 against Arsenal. It was a stunner in the last minute of the game. Rooney became the youngest goalscorer in the Premiership's history (the record would be overtaken a few weeks later by James Milner).

He became the youngest player to represent his country when he made his debut against Australia in February 2003 at the age of 17; and then broke another record becoming England's youngest ever goalscorer when he scored against Macedonia in a Euro 2004 qualifier in September 2003.

In September 2005, Wayne Rooney added FIFPro's young player award after a poll of 38,000 professional footballers in 40 countries.

In 2006, Wayne Rooney won the PFA Young Player of the Year Award for the second year running.

When Rooney broke a metatarsal at the end of the 2005/6 season, hardly a day went by without speculation on whether he would be available for the World Cup. In the end, Rooney was able to play in the tournament and started by coming on as substitute in the game against Trinidad and Tobago.

The 2006 World Cup worsened for Wayne Rooney and England when he got sent off after Manchester United colleague Cristiano Ronaldo had words with the referee in England's match against Portugal.

England went on to lose 1-0, and their World Cup dreams were dashed.

On 2 November 2009, Coleen Rooney gave birth to a boy Kai Wayne.

In October 2010, in spite of speculation that he might leave Manchester United, Wayne Rooney signed a new five-year contract to keep him at the club until June 2015.

The announcement had come after a dip in Wayne Rooney's form for both Manchester United and for England, including at the 2010 World Cup, and after press allegations surrounding his private life.

In October 2011, Uefa's disciplinary panel imposed a 3 match ban on Wayne Rooney, which meant that he would miss the Euro 2012 group stage after he had been sent off in England's match against Montenegro.

On 15 November 2014, Wayne Rooney won his 100th England cap in their 3-1 win over Slovenia. His goal in that match meant that he went equal third with Jimmy Greaves in the standings for top English goalscorer.

In January 2016, Wayne and Coleen had another boy, Kit, joining his brothers Kai and Klay.

In the Sunday Times Rich List in 2016, Wayne and Coleen Rooney's net wealth was estimated at £96 million.

His contract at the time gave his salary as £300,000 per week.

Wayne Rooney in 2017

In January 2017, Wayne Rooney broke Sir Bobby Charlton's record of 249 goals for Manchester United.

He scored his 250th goal for the club on 21 January 2017, with an injury-time equaliser against Stoke.

In the 2016/7 season Rooney started only 15 games for Manchester United.

In May 2017, Gareth Southgate left Wayne Rooney out of the England squad.

He had been left out of Southgate's previous squad, but that had been because of injury.

On 9 July 2017 Wayne Rooney left Manchester United and rejoined Everton for an undisclosed fee.

He scored the winning goal in his first Premiership match back at Everton when they beat Stoke 1-0 on 12 August 2017.

In August 2017, Coleen Rooney announced that she was pregnant with their fourth child.

On 21 August 2017, he scored his 200th Premier League goal in Everton's 1-1 draw at Manchester City.

A couple of days later Wayne Rooney announced his retirement from international football.

He had scored a record-breaking 53 goals in 119 appearances for England.

On 18 September 2017, Wayne Rooney was banned from driving for two years and ordered to perform 100 hours of unpaid work as part of a 12-month community order, having admitted drink-driving.

Wayne Rooney after 2017

>In June 2018, Rooney joined DC United in the USA.

In November 2018, he came on as a substitute in England's 3-0 victory over the USA. He came out of international retirement to promote The Wayne Rooney Foundation and so ended his England career with 120 caps.

In August 2019, it was revealed that Wayne Rooney was to return to the UK and join Derby County as a player-coach in January 2020.

In a documentary in 2022, Rooney revealed that he feared he could have died or killed someone at the lowest point of his drinking problems.

In October 2023, he was appointed manager of Birmingham City, who play in the Championship. However, he was sacked after only 83 days.

Back to Top