Ultimately, Man Utd would be very, very glad that they got the deal over the line ahead of Newcastle and didn’t wait, as originally planned. Speaking at the time, revered former United manager Sir Alex Ferguson said: “I am very excited. I think we have got the best young player this country has seen in the past 30 years. Everyone is delighted by this signing.”
That turned out to be a pretty accurate assessment, as the teenager blossomed into one of the finest players England has ever seen and became a club legend at Old Trafford, scoring 253 goals in 559 trophy-laden appearances for the club, including five Premier League titles and the Champions League in 2008 as a star-studded United side edged Chelsea on penalties.
Discussing his relationship with Ferguson, Rooney added: “I always remember the one thing he said and he said it a few times, is ‘the hardest thing to do in life is work hard’. That stuck with me. Whatever job you’re doing that can apply to anything really. I think in football we have talent, we have ability but sometimes we don’t look at working hard every day. And you’d think that’s, that’s normal.
“You should do that if you, you played in a big club, but if some players actually you’ve seen them, they don’t. And so that was the one thing which stuck with me.”