Wayne Rooney grilled his critics who lamented his ‘overestimated’ big money move with a hat-trick on debut
In the summer of 2004, Sir Alex Ferguson made a record transfer for any under-20 player by lashing a fee of 27 million pounds. Wayne Rooney had asked Everton for a transfer, however, the word around the town described the asking price as ‘over-estimated’ while many pundits criticised Ferguson’s judgement of paying such a huge fee.
Rooney signed up and wearing the no 8 jersey, made his Manchester United debut in a Champions League encounter against Fenerbahce, and scored a thumping hat-trick that silenced all commentators. The world was stunned with the reality-check of this 18-year-old’s promising talent.
What left the biggest impression was that he completed his trilogy of goals within just 37 minutes, courtesy of a sublime free-kick and giving justice to assists by Ruud van Nistelrooy and Ryan Giggs. On that day 67,128 spectators couldn’t believe a football game’s ticket could be so worth it!
