Top 5 strikers of the Premier League era

#3 Wayne Rooney (England, Manchester United and Everton)

When Sir Alex Ferguson signed a young Englishman from Everton in the summer of 2004, a lot of eyebrows were raised. Manchester United paid a colossal fee for an 18-year-old, but it can be safely said that Wayne Rooney lived up to the expectations and the transfer fee.

The Englishman developed into a world-class talent under the guidance of Sir Alex Ferguson and became a club legend.

Rooney had already scored 17 goals from 77 appearances in all competitions for Everton, so he came with a reputation of a budding goalscorer. However, there was so much more to the Englishman's gameplay.

Rooney was a monster on the pitch - technically sound, tactically versatile and an extremely hard worker who would run all day for his team. He became a mainstay at Old Trafford and found a place in the United folklore with his gritty never-say-die attitude.

Despite carrying out a variety of roles for United and playing in different positions, the Englishman was still constantly among goals for the Red Devils.

When Rooney left United at the end of the 2016/17 season, he had a cabinet full of trophies and had scored 253 goals from 559 games for United, becoming United's all-time leading goalscorer. 183 of those goals were scored from 393 games in the Premier League.

Rooney played for Everton for one more season in the league and ended his association with the Premier League with 208 goals from 491 games in total. Only Alan Shearer has scored more goals than him in the league.

About the author

Deepungsu is a veteran football journalist who has been covering daily transfer roundups and news for over six years at Sportskeeda. He has written close to 9000 articles for the website, and has garnered over 19.5Million reads.

Deepungsu holds a PG degree in Microbiology and an MBA degree in Total Quality Management. He has an extensive two-decade long writing experience, which includes a decade of sports blogging. His writing prowess has even led his work getting cited on the legendary Franz Beckenbauer's Wikipedia page.

Inspired by Diego Maradona, Deepungsu played as an attacking midfielder for his local club at subdivision level in his initial years and scored an important goal or two. However, his all-time favorite footballer is Lionel Messi, and evidently, he feels Argentina's glory in 2022 is his favorite FIFA World Cup moment for fulfilling his long-standing dream. He is also an ardent East Bengal fan.

Deepungsu has been a Manchester United supporter since the year 2000. Unsurprisingly, his favorite manager is Sir Alex Ferguson and the Scotsman helped him get through some of the toughest days of his life. Like the fiery Scot, Deepungsu also leaves no stone unturned when it comes to accuracy in articles and only relies on credible sources.

Despite believing in Kylian Mbappe and Erling Haaland to create an iconic rivalry, Deepungsu reckons no one can match the longevity of Messi and Ronaldo. He spends his leisure time writing about life on his blog, reading books, and playing the guitar.

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Edited by Zaid Khan