Rooney can fit in well back at Everton

AFTER a 13-year glittering career of romance with Manchester United, Wayne Rooney, an iconic figure, has reached the end of the road.

It was equally unsurprising that Everton chairman Bill Kenwright would want a boyhood fan and former player back in blue.

Both coach Ronald Koeman and team director Steve Walsh are radically reshaping Everton to rejuvenate team ambition.

Walsh is famously known for transforming former club Leicester and for bringing in N’Golo Kante.

When Rooney first stepped out onto the Goodison Park pitch, he was an 11-yearold fragile boy and was Everton’s mascot for a derby clash with Liverpool.

He was the kid who would batter a ball from morning till night in his Croxteth estate in Merseyside.

Every great footballer has similar stories: George Best honed his skills with a tennis ball, David Beckham used to hang a tyre from the crossbar and swing various long-distance shots through it.

Even our own Lebogang Manyama used to play in the Sunday league matches in Alex and never thought he would make it in top flight soccer.

But Rooney always knew he would become a professional footballer.

So, nothing has really changed that much besides his bank balance.

For him, that childlike obsession with the game remains his biggest motivation.

And there’s something wonderful about that.

He’s been among the best-paid players in England as the gulf between reputation and reality has grown.

His England career is in jeopardy despite being a record goal scorer.

A decision for him to remain in England is an indication of his determination to regain his international place.

Age isn’t a barrier though. Rooney is only 31 but Jermain Defoe, 34, enjoys game time under the English coach.

Rooney started six of Man United’s final seven league games last season, while Jose Mourinho named weaker teams to focus on the Europa league, but he only began four of the previous 26.

He’s also sought to quash any notion that the move to Everton is based on sentiment, stating, “I’m not just coming back because it’s the team I support, the team I grew up playing for”.

Everton needed a person with Rooney’s stature of big-match temperament.

Perhaps Romelu Lukaku left the club because it wasn’t ambitious enough to lure good top players.

Rooney is a game changer with potential to influence the match results when he is at his finest level.