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England`s soccer prodigy Rooney turns 18
Liverpool, Oct 25: Everton soccer sensation Wayne Rooney turned 18 on Friday but did not receive the present he would have wanted from his manager.
Liverpool, Oct 25: Everton soccer sensation Wayne Rooney turned 18 on Friday but did not receive the present he would have wanted from his manager.
According to David Moyes he has only had one good match for his club this season. "So far this season Wayne's form has not been too good," said Moyes " and I would imagine every Evertonian you speak to would say the same thing."
Rooney sprang to prominence last season with consistent displays in the Premier League that earned him a place in the England squad, but he has not reproduced that form this season.
"With maybe the exception of the game at Charlton, I think Wayne has been a little bit below the standards he has set -- and he is very aware of that," Moyes said. "I think that is why there has been a lot of frustration in his play.
"This year, players have decided to get stuck right into him."
A brilliant solo effort against Charlton in August is Rooney's only goal for his club this season, though he became the youngest player to score for England in last month's win over Macedonia and grabbed another against Liechtenstein four days later.
"It has been a really big climb for Wayne in a short period of time -- and it is so important that you don't lose your roots, your values or sight of the reason why you got there in the first place," Moyes said. "At this present time he is doing well as a footballer -- but in the future we hope to see him doing even better.
"Nobody has had a talent like Wayne Rooney in this country for a long, long time."
With Everton about to take on Aston Villa, Moyes told the club's website: "His birthday night will be spent in a hotel with the rest of the players preparing for Saturday's game. That's what happens when you're a football player.
"You miss out on Christmas and New Year and your birthday sometimes. But at the right time, you have an opportunity to let your hair down."
Rooney replied : "We're only eight games into the season and so far I haven't found my second season tougher than my first."
Liverpool-born, Rooney, who was presented with a cake on a visit to children patients at the city's Alder Hey hospital, joined Everton's youth academy at the age of nine and was playing for the Under-19 side aged 15 before moving up to the senior squad at the age od sixteen.
Bureau Report
A brilliant solo effort against Charlton in August is Rooney's only goal for his club this season, though he became the youngest player to score for England in last month's win over Macedonia and grabbed another against Liechtenstein four days later.
"It has been a really big climb for Wayne in a short period of time -- and it is so important that you don't lose your roots, your values or sight of the reason why you got there in the first place," Moyes said. "At this present time he is doing well as a footballer -- but in the future we hope to see him doing even better.
"Nobody has had a talent like Wayne Rooney in this country for a long, long time."
With Everton about to take on Aston Villa, Moyes told the club's website: "His birthday night will be spent in a hotel with the rest of the players preparing for Saturday's game. That's what happens when you're a football player.
"You miss out on Christmas and New Year and your birthday sometimes. But at the right time, you have an opportunity to let your hair down."
Rooney replied : "We're only eight games into the season and so far I haven't found my second season tougher than my first."
Liverpool-born, Rooney, who was presented with a cake on a visit to children patients at the city's Alder Hey hospital, joined Everton's youth academy at the age of nine and was playing for the Under-19 side aged 15 before moving up to the senior squad at the age od sixteen.
Bureau Report