Wayne Rooney

Manchester United

2004-05 season

Rooney made a transfer request in August 2004, despite Everton having made a new contract offer valued at £50,000 per week.[55] Everton then rejected a bid of £20 million from Newcastle,[56] and ultimately signed for Manchester United at the end of the month after a £25.6 million deal was reached.[57] It was the highest fee ever paid for a player under 20 years old; Rooney was still only 18 when he left Everton.[58] Sir Alex Ferguson, then manager of United, said that "There were plenty of eyebrows raised" when he persuaded the club's board of directors to sanction "a multi-million pound" move to try to sign Rooney from Everton.[59]

Rooney was given the number 8 shirt upon his arrival at Old Trafford.[60] He made his United debut on 28 September in a 6-2 home win over Fenerbahçe in the Champions League, scoring a hat-trick and laying on an assist.[61] These goals made Rooney the youngest player to score a hat-trick in the Champions League aged 18 years 335 days.[62] However, his first season with Manchester United ended without winning a trophy as they could only manage a third place finish in the league,[63] and failed to progress to the last eight of the Champions League.[64] United had more success in the cup competitions, but were edged out of the League Cup in the semi finals by a Chelsea side[65] who also won the Premier League title that season,[66] and a goalless draw with Arsenal in the FA Cup final was followed by a penalty shoot-out defeat.[67] Rooney was United's top league scorer that season with 11 goals, and was credited with the PFA Young Player of the Year award.

2005-07 season

In September 2005, Rooney was sent off in a goalless Champions League match against Villarreal of Spain for sarcastically clapping the referee, who had booked him for an unintentional foul on an opponent.[69] His first trophy with United came in the 2006 League Cup,[70] and he was also named man of the match after scoring twice in the final as United won 4-0 against Wigan Athletic.[71] His club finished the season as Premier League runners up, with their title hopes ended in late April when they lost 3-0 away to champions Chelsea.[72] Rooney sustained a broken metatarsal in that game after a tackle from Paulo Ferreira. Rooney scored a total of 16 goals in 26 Premier League games in the 2005-06 season.[73]

Rooney was sent off in an Amsterdam Tournament match against Porto on 4 August 2006 after hitting Porto defender Pepe with his elbow.[74] He was punished with a three-match ban by the FA, following their receipt of a 23-page report from referee Ruud Bossen that explained his decision.[75] Rooney threatened to withdraw the FA's permission to use his image if they did not revoke the ban,[76] although the FA had no power to make such a decision.

During the first half of the 2006-07 season, Rooney endured a ten-game scoreless streak before scoring a hat-trick against Bolton Wanderers.[77] He subsequently signed a two-year contract extension the following month that tied him to United until 2012. In April 2007, he scored two goals in an 8-3 aggregate Champions League quarter-final win over Roma[78] and two more in the same competition later in the month, in a 3-2 semi-final first leg victory over Milan.[79] Rooney collected his first Premier League title winner's medal at the end of the 2006-07 season.[80] He scored 14 league goals that season.[81

2007-09

In June 2007, Rooney was given squad number 10, last worn by Ruud van Nistelrooy.[82][83] Rooney reasoned that he always loved that number.[84] He fractured his left metatarsal in United's opening-day goalless draw against Reading on 12 August,[85] the same injury he had suffered to his right foot in 2004.[86] After being sidelined for six weeks, he returned for United's 1-0 Champions League group stage win over Roma on 2 October, scoring the only goal of the match.[87] Rooney was again injured on 9 November, hurting his ankle during a training session and missing an additional two weeks.[88] His next match after injury was against Fulham on 3 December, in which he played 70 minutes.[89] Rooney missed a total of ten games and finished the 2007-08 season with 18 goals (12 of them in the league),[73] as United clinched the Premier League.[90] In the Champions League's first-ever all-English final,[91] United defeated league rivals Chelsea to win another trophy.[92]