#5 Wayne Rooney
The enigma that was Wayne Rooney never failed to entertain us during his early days as a footballer. Rooney was a name discussed with great aplomb amongst the Everton faithful as he had shown great abilities as a youngster and was deemed to be the future of the club. A young Rooney was ferocious yet talented and it did not take a long time for him to etch himself in the memoirs of football fans worldwide when he scored a last-minute winner against a dominant Arsenal side in October 2002.
While he did enjoy some more great months at Everton, it was only after he moved to Manchester United in 2004 that Wayne was identified as someone who was ready to take the footballing world by the storm. Rooney scored 17 goals in his debut season with the Red Devils and it was increasingly evident that he had established himself as a fan favourite with his performances as his name was constantly the subject of chants by the United fans.
Cut to the present and a look at Wayne Rooney’s current situation suggests that things have taken a sudden dip for the captain. In the last two seasons, while Rooney has featured 80 times for the Red Devils, many of his appearances have been from the bench and inconsequential matches.
Add to that the fact that he is no longer his side’s leading striker and you could understand why Rooney might want to seek a move away from the Manchester club. However, it is not easy as it sounds, courtesy of David Moyes, who offered Rooney a massive wage package in 2014 that has now made him a problem child that nobody wants to have on their hand.
The former England skipper was once a feared striker who could turn a game on its head within a matter of seconds and was talked about in the same tone as Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo (He actually beat Cristiano to the Golden Boy award in 2004). Now, he is another footballer approaching the end of his career and suffering a crisis of immense proportions.
