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The Manchester United legend Wayne Rooney is reminding people of the old adage ‘form is temporary, class is permanent’ following his stellar performances for DC United.
The striker, who joined the American club in the summer, looks like he’s justifying his net-worth busting £12.5 million deal, with the former Man Utd and England captain scoring ten goals in 18 games, as well as assisting six.
Such is Rooney’s impact that the club, which was bottom of the MLS Eastern Conference and had taken just 11 points from their first 14 games, has now won 11 games out of 18 and has soared into the play-off places.
With Rooney having such a massive impact in the MLS, here is all you need to know about the former Man Utd and Everton player including who he is and what is his net worth.
Wayne Rooney signed for the Reds in 2004 for £25.6 million and went on to score 253 goals
Who is Wayne Rooney?
Wayne Rooney was born in Croxeth, Liverpool on October 24, 1985.
He joined Everton aged nine and served as a mascot in the Merseyside derby against Liverpool when he was 11.
He made his Everton debut in August 2002, in a 2-2 draw against Tottenham, where he assisted the first goal.
On October 19 of that year Rooney scored the last-minute winning goal against Arsenal and ended the Gunners unbeaten 30-game run, for a time becoming the youngest Premier League goalscorer.
In December 2002 he won the BBC Young Sports Personality of the Year. He became England’s youngest ever player at the age of 17 years and 111, and subsequently youngest scorer, when he scored against Macedonia in the Euro 2004 qualifying match.
While he still holds the record for the latter, former Arsenal player Theo Walcott became the youngest England player in 2006 at the age of aged 17 years and 75 days.
Rooney had a spectacular Euro 2004 tournament, scoring four goals and being named in the Team of the Tournament.
In August 2004, Rooney signed for Sir Alex Ferguson’s Manchester United for £25.6 million.
He stayed at the club for 13 years, in that time winning five Premier League titles, including three back-to-back between 2006 and 2009.
He also won the FA Cup in 2016, the League Cup three times, the Champions League in 2008 and the Europa League in 2017.
Rooney made 559 appearances for United, scoring 253 goals for the club, becoming its all-time leading scorer and the only player to have scored over 250 goals.
In that time he also became England’s all-time scorer with 53 goals in 119 games, surpassing the record set by Manchester United Legend Sir Bobby Charlton of 49 goals in 106 games.
In July 2017, Rooney returned to his boyhood club on a free transfer.
Staying with them for one season and putting in several impressive performances, scoring 11 goals, that got him an England call-up, which he snubbed by announcing his retirement from international football.
In June 2018, Rooney signed a three-and-a-half-year deal with MLS side DC United.
Rooney is married to childhood sweetheart Coleen, with whom he has four sons, Kai, Klay, Kit and Cass Mac.
Wayne Rooney scandals
The footballer has been in the news many times throughout his adult life over his private life. In 2004 he admitted to sleeping with prostitutes.
Aged 16, he reportedly paid £140 to sleep with a 21-year-old woman, and a month later spent £45 to sleep with 37-year-old Gina McCarrick.
He also slept with a 48-year-old grandmother there.
Rooney later apologised: ‘Foolish as it now seems I did on occasions visit massage parlours and prostitutes.
‘I now regret it deeply and hope people may understand that it was the sort of mistake you make when you are young and stupid. It was at a time when I was very young and immature.’
Five years later he slept with another prostitute, Jennifer Thompson, while Coleen was pregnant with Kai.
When the scandal broke in 2010, it was revealed that he slept with another woman called Helen Wood.
In September 2017, Rooney was caught drink-driving with single mother Laura Simpson, while Coleen was pregnant with her fourth child.
What is Wayne Rooney’s net worth?
Wayne Rooney’s net worth is estimated to be £122.3 million ($160m), according to Celebrity Net Worth.
Forbes reports that Rooney made £20 million ($27m) in the 12-month period running up to May 2018, making him the 58th highest-paid athlete in the world.
His most recent professional football contract, with MLS side DC United, will see the former Man United legend earn an estimated £12.5 million ($16m) in three-and-a-half years.
Prior to that, Rooney earnt £140,000 ($183,000) per week at his boyhood club Everton.
That was roughly half of what Rooney earnt towards the end of his Manchester United career. In 2017, Rooney signed a five-and-a-half-year contract with the Red Devils that saw him earn £300,000 ($392,000) a week.
He was on £250,000 ($327,000) prior to that.
When Rooney first signed for the club, he was earning £45,000 ($58,000).
The footballer also earns money from endorsements, raking in £4.59 million ($6m) a year from deals with brands such as Nike and Samsung.
He and Coleen own many properties around the world including a huge £20 million Cheshire mansion that sits on a 40-acre estate and a £5 million ($6.54m) Barbados villa.
They also own a half-a-million-dollar flat in Florida and a £5.7 million ($7.5m) house in Prestbury.
Until 2010 Rooney also worked with Coca-Cola until 2010, when the drinks giant dropped the footballer over the revelations about his private life.
At the age of 20, Rooney signed a five-book deal with HarperCollins that was worth £5 million ($6.5m).
Wayne Rooney’s hair transplant
In June 2011, Rooney tweeted the results of his £30,000 hair transplant, saying: ‘Hi all there’s my head. It will take a few months to grow. Still a bit bloody to. But that’s all normal. #hairwego.’
The procedure involved transplanting hairs from an area of good growth to patchy areas in groups of one or four. Rooney had the procedure at a clinic on Harley Street, London.
Two years later he had another operation.
