Only in retirement will England realise how lucky they were to have Wayne Rooney

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  • Wayne Rooney never asked to carry the weight of a nation on his back but he did. There was barely anyone else to share the load.

    He felt that crushing expectation many times. When he aimed a sarcastic comment at the cameras after England’s fans booed the tepid draw against Algeria at the 2010 World Cup. His infamous stamp on Ricardo Carvalho four years prior. Another fit of pique against Montenegro in 2011.

    You’ll have been reminded of those moments wherever you went on the internet yesterday in numerous ‘highs and lows’ biographies.

    Every one of his achievements for England, in England especially, is seen to come with a caveat. Record number of goals? Well, he scored just three in major tournaments after 2004. Second-most caps of all time? Yes, in an era of meaningless friendlies.

    It is a peculiarly British habit to idolise sports stars at the same time as criticising them at every turn. But in Rooney’s case, the

    desire to knock him down lies in the impossibly great heights he was held to at the start of his career.

    We rubbed our eyes in disbelief when this 16-year-old boy, in a man’s body, stormed the Premier League stage with Everton and left battle-hardened veterans trailing in his wake. Bravery, power and skill all cranked up to volume 11. The model English footballer.

    Save for the sad waste of Paul Gascoigne, this just didn’t happen to England – producing a unique talent to rival the very best on the world stage.

    To get a handle on the magnitude, in the early 2000s, Rooney was the Kylian Mbappe of his generation.

    And how England showed off their newly discovered diamond at Euro 2004. He put two past the Swiss and another brace against Croatia, his last a breathtaking surge and finish from midfield.

    Then came the injury in the quarter-final against Portugal and according to some, that broken metatarsal robbed him of his superpowers.

    Chat to some England fans and you’d come away thinking Rooney should have finished his career being spoken about in the same vein as Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo. But the constant pining for ‘what could have been’ detracts from what he was – a player England were extremely lucky to have.

    The best of Rooney in an England shirt is not confined to the early years. In fact, 27 of his record 53 goals came after 2010 in 51 appearances, a better strike rate than one every two games.

    Don’t forget, this goalscoring form happened just as England’s so-called golden generation – Steven Gerrard, Frank Lampard, Rio Ferdinand, John Terry et al – were fizzling out, to be replaced by the likes of Scott Parker and Joleon Lescott.

    Rooney strained on with the hopes and dreams of wildly optimistic supporters, who continued to love and loathe him in equal measure. A symbol of not-quitegood- enough excellence.

    No, the lad from a council estate in Liverpool never became the ‘white Pele’, as Manchester United fans used to cheekily sing, but as time passes England will truly appreciate what they had – and that undeserved asterisk can be scrubbed off.

    The decision to retire at this juncture makes perfect sense for all parties. Whether he was in the squad or not, playing well or not, England manager Gareth Southgate would have been forever hounded by the Rooney question until he called it quits.

    As for Wayne, already a United and England legend, he can concentrate on making it a treble with the boyhood club he left when he was still a boy.

    His teenage T-shirt slogan that he would be ‘once a blue, always a blue’ did not hold true but he is once again a blue – and given the reception he has received at Goodison Park, Everton fans are happy to let bygones be bygones.

    Rooney has never been interested in legacy so much as being on the pitch. He won’t rage against ‘injustice’ on his Instagram account a la Ronaldo. But if he can help Everton into the Champions League, or to a cup, it would be a deserved final flourish for one of England’s greatest.

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