Throwback To Manchester United's XI On Wayne Rooney's League Debut

When Wayne Rooney first rocked up to Old Trafford as a Manchester United player he was still a teenager, 13 years later he left to return to Everton. Today he goes back to Manchester. But what was life like when he was first there as a Red Devil?

As a 16 year old Wayne Rooney made sure we were all going to remember his name with THAT goal against Arsenal. Aged 18 he tore the Euros up and launched himself into a worldwide phenomenon.

_{Wayne Rooney after scoring the goal against Arsenal that made him famous. Image: PA}

Just a couple of months later he was officially a Manchester United player, becoming the first teenager to move for £30 million, Kylian Mbappe sniffs at that price, and not too much later he made an incredible debut.

Rooney was injured when he joined United so made his debut against Fenerbahce on September 28th, scoring a hat-trick in front of the Old Trafford crowd.

Just five days later the fanfare wasn't quite as big as he made his Premier League debut for United against Middlesbrough. United started with a front three of Rooney, Ruud van Nistelrooy and Cristiano Ronaldo- the three Rs.

_{Rooney's Premier League debut was not as spectacular as the one he made in the Champions League. Image: PA}

However the strike force in its infancy didn't actually work and Boro took the lead through Stewart Downing after 33 minutes. It then took United till the 81st minute to earn themselves a draw when Alan Smith, on for John O'Shea scored late on.

Kelberson, Eric Djemba-Djemba and Quinton Fortune were the subs left on the bench as United dropped points in the league for what was already the fifth time that season.

Rooney wouldn't actually score his first league goal for Sir Alex Ferguson's team for another two weeks when he scored in the last minute of a 2-0 win over Arsenal, have Van Nistelrooy had given the Red Devils the lead.

United would go on to finish third that season, they would lose the FA Cup final on penalties to Arsenal, reach the League Cup semi-finals and just the last 16 of the Champions League.

For their new striker though he would finish top of the scoring charts for the club with 17 goals.

Will he come back to haunt them today?

Topics: Manchester United, Everton, Wayne Rooney

Ryan Sidle

Ryan is a writer for SPORTbible. He covers all sport from football, formula one, cricket, rugby, tennis, athletics, mma and wrestling. He obviously hates YOUR football team and has no interest in synchronised swimming.

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