Rooney’s career comes full circle as Man Utd face Fenerbahce

Former golden boy in fight for Three Lions place

England expected and all eyes were trained on Rooney, with hopes pinned on a teenager to bring excitement to European adventures on a chilly autumn evening.

That sentence may sound mighty familiar, but over a decade on, and Rooney (a superb 6/4 with Coral to strike anytime) is fighting to keep both his England and Man Utd careers alive.

The cameras will still be clicking away on Thursday, but Mourinho and the Three Lions’ focus are slowly shifting onto another Man Utd teenager in Marcus Rashford. Though, as the youngster started ahead of Rooney against Liverpool, the captain has a chance to remind of his scoring talents against the Turkish team.

Rooney’s career path so far seems to have followed a film star trajectory – all the way from his fairytale early rise at Everton to global superstardom and a record transfer fee (for a player under 20) with fierce rivals Man Utd, up until his recent woes.

The script is set then, for a Rooney repeat or something close, as England’s leading scorer is getting most of his game time midweek now and is a fantastic 5/1 to draw first blood on Thursday.

With Harry Kane, Rashford, Theo Walcott and Daniel Sturridge all breathing down his neck at international level and Zlatan Ibrahimovic leading Mourinho’s line, it’s a far cry from the days when Rooney was the name on everyone’s lips.

Rooney odds awesome value for Thursday fixture

If you relived a slice of Man Utd football history in the video above, the crackling and expectant Old Trafford atmosphere in the background should have whetted punters’ appetites for some Europa League punts.

Roaming Rooney, bullish and electric, struck his first thunderbolt from outside the area, inducing the famous sliding knees celebration as he marked his Man Utd arrival.

As his second long distance goal rifled into the bottom left hand corner, giving goalie Rustu no chance, spectators knew it was Rooney’s night.

Finally, the cherry on the cake came in the form of a curling free-kick, cracked in with confidence and summing up why Rooney was so exciting.

For a repeat, customers can back Rooney odds of 33/1 for another Fenerbahce hat-trick. Incredible value if we do say so ourselves. Or, simply take a 7/2 price for the Man Utd marksman to outscore the opposition, as he did back in 2004.

Now, as a maturer Rooney revisits the fairytale fixture once again, there could be a starting spot against Mourinho’s former club Chelsea. England boss Gareth Southgate may also do so against auld enemy Scotland, if he can prove he has the goals in him. How’s that for full circle?

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