Wayne Rooney was undoubtedly the star of Manchester United's 2009-2010 season, but then there were hardly many contenders.
And then he brought a whole new meaning to the word 'underwhelming' with his World Cup 2010 performances.
If we take it that Rooney has done his best work for United when he is the main man, then he should have played out of his skin for England. Because he was the poster boy for England success.
Gerrard was the captain, Terry was the 'news' and Barry, oddly, was the 'one we couldn't do without' but Rooney should have been the goals.
The England team, as discussed ad nauseam, was full of crocks and overrated 'stars' as well as those who were simply past their best.
Aside from Rooney, the best players for United last season were Scholes, Giggs and Neville.
Really he should have been right at home in this patched up side of aging stars playing out of position.
The other argument given for Rooney's no-show in South Africa was the pressure which I'm going to give the time it deserves by moving swiftly on.
And then there was the lack of service.
The few goals we did score in the tournament came from Steven Gerrard - midfielder, Matthew Upson - defender and fellow striker Jermain Defoe.
This would suggest that they were in the right positions and created their own chances.
Also Rooney did not exactly have five star service at United last season, in fact he had Michael Carrick...
I'm not a Manchester United fan, but I have no particular dislike for Rooney.
The problem I do have regarding him, is that it seems to have taken the media until now to recognise just how injury-prone the 24-year-old is.
Type 'Wayne Rooney' into google and the first suggestion it will give you is 'injury'. If you follow this, it will give you a plethora of articles dated almost throughout Rooney's career detailing serious injuries.
The 'highlights' of this little record are recurring ankle and hamstring injuries and of course the broken metatarsal which was the cause of his poor form in the 2006 World Cup.
If anything though his tendency to get injured makes his Manchester United record even more impressive, 131 goals in 282 appearances.
Rooney replaced Michael Owen as the England wonder-kid, but he looks to be in danger of having an even shorter shelf life than his United teammate.
And their stories are very similar. Both were discovered as schoolboys banging in goals against teams older than themselves because they were just too good to play with boys their own age.
Owen is in danger of being forgotten, because he has spent far more years being injured than he did at the top of his game. Unwise career moves haven't helped, but we sometimes forget just how good Michael Owen was.
But Owen can still boast being the only player to ever have scored in four major tournaments for England, the 1998 World Cup, Euro 2000, the 2002 World Cup and Euro 2004.
That stunning goal against Argentina has justifably entered the cannon of great World Cup goals and its scorer was once mentioned in the same breath as George Best and Pele.
But not recently.
I vividly remember one of the tabloid newspapers running a mock up of Owen on a can of Carlsberg with the caption 'Probably the best striker in the world? Prove it!' I'm not sure if it was prior to Euro 2004 or the 2006 World Cup, but the media had stopped backing the Golden Boy.
Owen, as we all know got injured in the 2006 World Cup and has not scored in a major tournament for England since.
Never a favourite of Capello's, he is unlikely to ever wear an England shirt again.
And Rooney is in danger of repeating history, only without World Cup goals to fall back on.
Physically you would think the diminuative Owen would be far more, well, breakable but Rooney is more than giving him a run for his money.
Is he unlucky? Not properly prepared? Wearing the wrong boots? Who knows.
We are constantly told that Manchester United have the best facilities and they do seem to have avoided an injury crisis on the scale that most other clubs have experienced on regular basis.
Until last season.
Pretty much ten seasons of 'owed' injuries came to collect during United's last campaign, with Rooney succumbing in the final stages.
And it is not like Rooney is at peak physical condition to start with...
In the Powerade advert, where a shiftless Rooney takes on his alterego to show him how to correctly fuel his body, you can't help but smile at the irony. Rooney looks like one of the most unfit players at the top of the game. I'm not asking for ripling muscles, and I understand that the advertising appeal for men is that he looks far more like they do than say the greasy but chiseled body of Ronaldo (feel a little bit nauseous here but I'm working through it!) but the point is that he shouldn't look like the average bloke, he should be a honed athlete.
Reports have surfaced of Rooney, and other United players eating takeaway's, Chinese in Rooney's case, Fish and chips for Michael Carrick, on a far more than is healthy basis, and while United no doubt have a strict diet at the club, it will not do much good if the players fill their bodies with rubbish for the rest of the week!
I'm no nutritionist, but high calorie foods such a chinese should not be a regular (twice weekly) feature of a Premier League footballer's diet.
Any other player with Rooney's physique would, at best, be said to be 'carrying a bit of timber' but Rooney gets away with it because he's brilliant. Only now he has let us down on the biggest stage of all, he may not enjoy quite so many priviledges.
All Rooney's passion in the tournament went into his rant at the England fans, and had he then channelled his obvious frustration into a performance against Slovenia or Germany, nobody would have blamed him for it. But we all know how that turned out.
So what now for Rooney? Well, hopefully a long and distinguished career with World Cup success, but he might want to keep an eye on those ankles/hamstrings/metatarsals, and perhaps a few less takeaways might be a good idea!
First published on www.SportingPreview.com on 13/7/2010
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