Born Wayne Mark Rooney on October 24, 1985, in Croxteth, Liverpool, England, to Wayne and Jeanette Rooney. Rooney, who has younger two brothers, attended Our Lady & St. Swithin's RC primary school and later De La Salle secondary school. From an early age, his talent on the field was hard to miss. At the age of 9, while playing for a local junior league, he caught the attention of a scout with the Everton Football Club, a local franchise in the English Premier League.
Clearly Rooney, who scored 99 goals in his final season in the junior league, was ready for better competition. He signed on with Everton and made his debut with the team in August 2002.
Two months later, he showed his penchant for scoring and coming up big in important games when he became the youngest ever goal scorer in Premier League history. The goal not only put Rooney in the record books but the last-minute score steered the team to a victory over Arsenal, which had come into the contest sporting a 30-game unbeaten streak. In 2002 Rooney captured the BBC Sports Young Personality of the Year award.
Despite his earlier affinity for his local pro club, in 2003 Rooney signed on with Manchester United after his new team paid Everton a 30 million transfer fee. The move was seen as treason by Everton fans, and when he later returned to play his old club, he was roundly booed by his old supporters.
Rooney, however, expressed no regrets about the change. And neither did United. In the 2006 Premier League Championship, the quick-tempered playmaker, whom the team would make captain that year, led his club to a 4-0 win over Wigan Athletic for the League Cup.
In addition, 2006 saw Rooney make some big noise off the field, when he landed a 5 million book deal from HarperCollins to write his autobiography, "Wayne Rooney: My Story So Far." The book put Rooney in a bit of hot water with his former manager at Everton, David Moyes, who sued his ex-player for libel. The two reached an undisclosed settlement before the case saw the courtroom.
In the ensuing years, Rooney has continued to make his mark with United. In 2008 he became the youngest player ever to play in 200 Premier League games. The following season he became just the 20th player in team history to score more than 100 goals for the franchise.
In 2008 Rooney married his longtime girlfriend, Coleen McLoughlin, at a villa in the Italian resort town of Santa Margherita Ligure. In November 2009 the two became parents when Coleen gave birth to a son, Kai Wayne Rooney.
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