Wayne Mark Rooney (born 24 October 1985) is an English footballer who plays as a striker for Premier League club Manchester United and theEngland national team.
Rooney made his senior international debut in 2003. He played at UEFA Euro 2004 and scored four goals. He also briefly became the competition's youngest goalscorer. He is frequently selected for the England squad and also featured at the 2006 and 2010 World Cups. Rooney has won theEngland Player of the Year award twice, in 2008 and 2009. As of March 2011, he has won 70 international caps and scored 26 goals.
Aged nine, Rooney joined the youth team of Everton, for whom he made his professional debut in 2002. He spent two seasons at the Merseysideclub, before moving to Manchester United for £25.6 million in the 2004 summer transfer window. Since then, United have won the Premier League four times, the 2007–08 UEFA Champions League and two League Cups with Rooney in the team. He also holds two runner-up medals from both the Premier League and the Champions League. In 2009-10, Rooney was awarded the PFA Players' Player of the Year and the FWA Footballer of the Year. As of 2011, he is the third highest-paid footballer in the world after Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo, with an annual income of €20.7m (£18m) including sponsorship deals.