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5 things Wayne Rooney’s return will bring to Everton

By Chinasia Ibonye
10 July 2017   |   11:26 am
After a very successful thirteen-year sojourn in Manchester, Wayne Rooney will be returning home to the blue side of Merseyside next season.

After a very successful thirteen-year sojourn in Manchester, Wayne Rooney will be returning home to the blue side of Merseyside next season. Everton have been one of the more active Premier League teams in the summer transfer window so far, and the recapture of one of the most successful talents to ever come out of their academy is a huge deal for the club. Sir Alex Fergusson talked about how Everton chairman, Bill Kenwright was almost in tears when Manchester United prized the then teenager away from them because the man knew the prodigious talent they were losing at that point. He left Everton as a freckle-faced teenager with unlimited potential and the world at his feet and he is returning as an accomplished and experienced man that has won everything there is to win in club football. He will be bringing a lot of things to Everton and today we will look at five major areas his return will help the improving fortunes of the club.

Leadership
We watched Wayne Rooney grow from a wild tempered kid, who often times couldn’t control his emotions, to a cool, calm and collected leader on the pitch. He grew to become the captain of Manchester United and the English national team before his thirtieth birthday, showing the ability to lead his peers as he became older and set an example for the younger players to follow. His vast experience garnered over 631 club games, will provide leadership as well as the dogged mentality Everton lacked on occasions last season. Much of the emotional farewells he has been receiving from the young lads at Manchester United, has shown the amount of respect and loyalty he commands from his subordinates and this sort of leadership is what he will definitely bring to this Everton side brimming with a lot of exciting talents.

Winning mentality/competitiveness
Like I mentioned earlier, the man has won every available trophy possible with Manchester United and coming back to his boyhood club, who are on the verge of making the ‘big six’ in the EPL, the ‘big seven’, his winning mentality should rub off on his team-mates and help them break into the upper echelon of the EPL. His competitiveness still burns as we saw how he fought fiercely to get games at Manchester United last season despite dropping down the pecking order due to the arrival of Zlatan Ibrahimovic and the emergence of Marcus Rashford and ended up playing a total of 39 games in all competitions for the Res Devils contributing eight goals.

Marketability
This is a no-brainer for Everton as the return of Wayne Rooney will automatically and immediately boost the marketability and value of the club. The sales of his jerseys and other Rooney related merchandise will add to the bottom-line of the club, while his presence in the team will attract a lot more sponsors, especially in the far east due to his immense popularity there, to come and do business with Everton. The club’s fanbase will also increase as Wayne Rooney is already a major global brand whose loyal fans will follow him wherever he goes.

Goals, assists, and teamwork
It is not a secret that Wayne Rooney is the greatest goal scorer in the history of Manchester United, he may have lost his place in his final season at the club, but his return to Everton will no doubt give him a fresh lease of life and one thing we know about goal-scorers is the fact that once they are settled and comfortable at a club, the goals will begin to flow again. You can only write off great goal-scorers at your own peril as Radamel Falcao showed us that last season with Monaco. Rooney will not just bring in the goals alone, he is a selfless player on the pitch and will bring in assists to the team too with his eye for passes.

Inspiration and drive
Everton had four members of England’s starting line-up in the Under-20 World Cup final victory against Venezuela this summer, including match-winner Dominic Calvert-Lewin and Ademola Lookman. Rooney will serve as an inspiration to these young lads who will train with him daily. They will see his work ethic first-hand and also learn a lot of things from this iconic footballer. Wayne Rooney has also mentioned that winning a trophy with Everton will be the pinnacle of his career and that ambition will only increase his drive for success with the club.
When Farhad Moshiri sold his 15% share in Arsenal to business partner Alisher Usmanov and bought a 49.9% stake in Everton in February 2016, the British-Iranian steel magnate meant business and that has shown as the fortunes and outlook of the club has changed. They have already spent over £90m on transfers this summer and are willing to spend more. One thing is for sure, the blue half of Merseyside are ready to roll with the big boys.

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