Flashback: Wayne Rooney leaves Everton for Old Trafford in record £27m move
After bursting onto the scene as a 16-year-old with his boyhood club Everton and playing a starring role at Euro 2004, Rooney became one of the most sought-after players in Europe.
He would leave Goodison Park for Old Trafford, with the Red Devils forking out £27million to make the then 18-year-old the most expensive teenager in world football.
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Hide AdSir Alex Ferguson later said there were “plenty of eyebrows raised” when he asked the club to sanction such a big deal for a player of Rooney’s age.
Any questions would be answered on Rooney’s debut – delayed due to injury – as he made a memorable first appearance for United, hitting a hat-trick against Fenerbache in a Champions League game on September 28, 2004.
He would go on to become the club’s all-time leading goalscorer, ending his 13-year stint at Old Trafford having scored 253 goals in 559 appearances.
Rooney, who would captain United in his later years at the club, won five Premier League titles, the Champions League, the FA Cup, three League Cups, the Europa League and the Club World Cup before moving back to where it all started with a return to Everton in the summer of 2017.
On This Day In Sport
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Hide Ad1968: Sir Garfield Sobers made cricketing history when he hit six sixes in one over for Nottinghamshire against Glamorgan off Malcolm Nash at Swansea.
1969: Former world heavyweight boxing champion Rocky Marciano died in a plane crash. He would have been 46 a day later.
1991: Former Tottenham defender Cyril Knowles died after a long illness at the age of 47. He played 401 games for his club and won four England caps.
2004: Manchester United completed the £27million signing of England striker Wayne Rooney from Everton.
2016: David Luiz rejoined Chelsea from Paris St Germain in a £32million deal on a frantic transfer deadline day.
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