AROUND THE GROUNDS: Home Grown

NAME

Wayne Rooney

CLUB

Everton

AGE

Born 24th October 1985

HOMETOWN

Croxteth, Liverpool

POSITION

Striker

SQUAD NUMBER

18

SIGNED FOR CLUB

1st August 2001

HEIGHT

155cm

DEBUT

Wayne started at the Everton youth academy and made his debut against Tottenham Hotspur on the opening day of the 2002 season at Goodison Park.

CAREER HIGHLIGHTS

The Everton manager David Moyes has often said that he wants to keep Wayne Rooney out of the limelight. The only problem is that Wayne has made this impossible!

First of all, he became Everton's youngest ever scorer when he netted against Wrexham in the Worthington Cup last season. He soon went on to become the youngest ever Premiership scorer (until James Milner) with a dipping 25-yard shot against Arsenal at Goodison on October 19 2002, five days before his 17th birthday.

Despite only playing a handful of games, Rooney ended 2002 as BBC Young Sportsperson of the Year, a great achievement for a player who had been unknown only a few months earlier.

Since then Wayne has become the youngest player to ever wear an England shirt when he appeared as a substitute against Australia at Upton Park in February 2003. He has won a permanent place in the first team with several impressive performances in England's qualifying matches for the 2004 European Championship.

In September 2003 he broke Michael Owen's record to become the youngest England scorer of all time with a goal against Macedonia at the age of 17 years and 317 days.