Wayne Rooney completed a high profile transfer to Manchester United on this day in 2004.
Having entered the scene at 16 with his boys’ club Everton and playing a starring role at Euro 2004, Rooney has become one of the most sought after players in Europe.
He would be leaving Goodison Park for Old Trafford, with the Red Devils shelling out £ 27m to make the then 18-year-old the most expensive teenager in world football.
Sir Alex Ferguson later said there were “a lot of raised eyebrows” when he asked the club to sanction a big problem for a player of Rooney’s age.
Any questions would have been answered in Rooney’s debut – delayed due to injury – as he made a memorable first appearance for United, hitting a hat-trick against Fenerbache in a Champions League match on 28 September 2004.
He would become the club’s all-time top scorer, ending his 13-year stint at Old Trafford after scoring 253 goals in 559 appearances.
Rooney, who would have captained United in his later years at the club, won five Premier League titles, the Champions League, the FA Cup, three League Cups, the Europa League and the Club World Cup before returning to where it all started with a return to Everton in the summer of 2017.
