When Cristiano Ronaldo left Manchester United for Real Madrid it had apparently left a gaping hole in United´s starting line up? Who would provide the goals, the papers said? United are finished they said, the start of the decline of Manchester United, they said. However, compared to the same point in the season last year, when Ronaldo still played at Old Trafford, they are now not only in contention for the Premier League and Champion´s League, but they have scored more goals in all competitions too. This is largely down to the form of one player, and that player is England´s Wayne Rooney.
Top Scorer in Europe
Top scorer in Europe, Rooney has bagged 25 goals in 33 games, placing him above his closest rivals, Barcelona´s Lionel Messi and Valencia´s David Villa. With Ronaldo at the club, Rooney had the perfect partner. Together Rooney and Ronaldo tormented defences, the main reason behind Manchester United being a "war-machine", as Fabio Capello described the club. Although, Rooney was played deep, he was not in his favoured postion as a target man, up front. Quite simply, Rooney was not the main player in the team. He played in Ronaldo´s shadow to an extent, and he was forced out of position so United´s play could be primarily channelled through the Portuguese.
It is clear that Rooney flourishes as an out and out striker, and also as the main player in the team. It is no coincidence that since Ronaldo departed Old Trafford, Rooney is finally fully living up to his promise, a fact that bodes particularly well for England fans. In a world cup year, if England are to win the world cup, they will need Rooney to continue his world-beating form in South Africa. And who is to say they couldn´t. Rooney has shown that he is afraid of no defence. Against Milan in the 3-2 victory at the San Siro, he scored 2 goals. He menaced the Rossoneri´s defence the entire game and every time he had the ball, Milan were scared. With the help of Nani, Rooney destroyed Arsenal at the Emirates stadium earlier in the season.
Next Ballon d´Or Holder and Fifa World Player of the Year?
He has all of the attributes necessary to be up there with the greats of the modern game. He has an acutely accurate shot, he scores with his head, his link up play is second to none, he has blistering pace and strength on the ball and what´s more, he is even often seen in defence breaking up play and starting attacks. And he has that hunger, the hunger to play every game, win every tournament, to galvanise his entire team to kick on.
Of course there are exceptional talents including Barcelona´s Lionel Messi, Andres Iniesta, David Villa and Cesc Fabregas among others. However, can any of those players lay claim to virtually carrying a team for a half a season, with the exception of Cesc Fabregas at Arsenal? Rooney is driving Manchester United forward this season, as Fabregas is largely doing for Arsenal, though distinctly Fabregas is finding less success with the Gunners. If Manchester United can make it to a third Champions League final or even if England go far in this year´s world cup, Rooney could well be named as the winner of the next Ball d´Or, FIFA World Player of the Year, European Golden Boot and any and every other individual player accolade in football.
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