Moving Target – Wayne Rooney

Everton have this afternoon confirmed the return of Wayne Rooney on a two-year contract from Manchester United for an undisclosed fee, with the legendary striker’s career turning full circle.

Rooney is back at club he left in 2004 and joins Michael Keane, Jordan Pickford, Davy Klaassen, Sandro Ramirez and Henry Onyekuru as part of their hugely impressive summer recruitment programme.

In his first interview back in blue, Rooney described how he was “estatic” to return to his boyhood club.

“It’s a great feeling to be back. I cannot wait to meet the lads, get on the training pitch and then get on the pitch to play. Throughout the summer I’ve been working out where I was going to go. I spoke to my agent and said: ‘Listen, you need to speak to Everton, see if it can happen’. He said it could so I told him to speak to the Club and get it done as quickly as possible. It’s happened, I’m delighted, and I’m ready to go.”

Meanwhile, his new manager Ronald Koeman was equally buoyant about his latest capture.

“Wayne has shown me that ambition that we need and that winning mentality – he knows how to win titles and I’m really happy he’s decided to come home. He loves Everton and he was desperate to come back. He is still only 31, and I don’t have any doubts about his qualities. It’s fantastic he’s here.”

The History

Rooney is nothing short of a legend of English and Premier League football, boasting a career that seems destined to span just two clubs.

His early spell at Everton began aged just nine years old within their schoolboy ranks. Throughout that period, Rooney broke records and, by the age of 15, was already sharing the pitch with the under-19’s.

A first team debut arrived in 2002, with his first goals arriving in the most unglamorous of settings – a league cup tie at Wrexham. Two weeks later, at the age of 16, he was to score in the dying minutes of a Premier League encounter to seal a victory over Arsenal.

At the time, that strike established Rooney as the youngest goalscorer in Premier League history. What was to follow was even more impressive.

Rooney was to play another 77 matches for Everton, scoring 17 goals and providing eight assists before, almost inevitably, interest escalated, and a transfer request was made.

In 2004, Manchester United pounced with a £25 million deal with Rooney aged just 18-years-old. It was to prove money well spent.

Rooney’s 13-year spell with United ends having helped them to five Premier Leagues titles, the Champions League, the FA Cup, three League Cups and the Europa League.

That illustrious career equated to 559 matches with 253 goals – United’s club record – along with 127 assists.

In Fantasy terms, the pinnacle of Rooney’s spell with United arrived in the 2013/14 season, with 17 goals, 12 assists and 38 Fantasy Premier League bonus points.

For that one season, Rooney was an established heavy-hitter but has never scaled such heights since.

Just 12 goals and five assists followed the in 2014/15 and, as Rooney gradually shifted from centre-forward, to a support striker to a raiding midfielder, his returns diminished.

He leaves United on the back of an indifferent campaign, built from just 15 Premier League starts, five goals and five assists.

It would surely be befitting, and appropriate if he now experiences a renaissance back at Goodison Park.

The Prospects

Fantasy managers will be willing for that to materialise.

Bar that one season, Rooney’s legendary status has never translated to the Fantasy sphere. In recent campaigns, we have rarely looked to him as a sound acquisition, let alone a player who could be trusted to sport the FPL captaincy.

Can that situation really change as part of Koeman’s impressive revolution?

While Rooney is still only 31-years-old, his decline as an attacking force has been marked.

If we assess the numbers behind that 2013/14 campaign, we find that he fired a shot every 24.2 minutes, with 42.6% of his efforts hitting the target.

The same player ended last season having produced a shot every 31.1 minutes, though tellingly, with more than half his paltry 20 attempts arriving from outside the box, only 20% found the target.

Rooney has clearly adapted his game as his pace and power has diminished. His arrival back at Everton coincides with Lukaku’s imminent departure in the opposite direction, but Koeman will surely continue to shop for a direct replacement for the Belgian striker. Rooney is unlikely to be the solution, with Koeman already emphasising Rooney’s versatility as an attacker.

“Everybody knows he can play out of different positions up front. He’s a smart player. He’s an experienced football player and that helps everybody.”

A deeper role, perhaps in the now traditional number 10 position, beckons. That will clearly tread on the toes of Ross Barkley and new signing Davy Klaassen, though both could find pitch time wide on the right of a 4-2-3-1, or perhaps with one working in tandem with Rooney behind a striker in a 3-4-2-1.

In truth, it is expected that Barkley will follow Lukaku out of Goodison Park, soothing that particular selection headache for Koeman and perhaps ensuring that, fitness permitting, Rooney has the opportunity to claim a regular starting role.

However, it remains to be seen if he can find enough in the tank to satisfy Koeman’s demands.

The Dutchman will insist on high pressing from his attacking players – Barkley may lack the discipline to execute that, but he has the legs. Klaassen has been signed because he possesses both. Rooney may need to adapt again to fit into Koeman’s masterplan.

For a second successive season, Fantasy managers will ponder whether Rooney will be re-classified as a midfielder. Unfortunately, the move back to Everton and its association with Lukaku’s departure makes that more unlikely.

He’s already classed as a forward in Sky Sports and priced at 10.4. Fantasy Premier League will be expected to follow suit, with perhaps a price tag of around £8.0m or less.

Rooney was valued at £9.0m in 2016/17, so a drop will be expected. Should he fall to £7.0m, he could rouse real interest. Higher than that, and Fantasy managers would surely have to witness a stark transformation in Rooney’s match fitness and confidence.

The burst of transfer activity at Goodison Park, coupled with the romance of his return, could yet inspire an extra yard of pace, a new willingness to raid the penalty area. There is no doubt that, when presented with opportunities, Rooney will seize them.

But the possibility of spot-kicks aside, goals may not be central to Rooney’s appeal for the duration of his spell back at Everton.

Koeman appears more likely to exploit his creative talents, harnessing a player who produced a key pass every 57.4 minutes in 2015/16 and 45.3 minutes last season.

That’s a superior rate to the likes of West Ham’s Manuel Lanzini (48.4 minutes) and Manchester City’s Leroy Sane (51 minutes) – players that are likely to be valued around Rooney’s price bracket as midfielders.

And therein lies the issue. For Rooney to truly be rekindled as a Fantasy asset, we surely rely on his reclassification as a midfielder.

We may have to wait another season for that to arrive and, regardless of his contract, it’s perhaps doubtful that Rooney’s remaining Premier League career will span that long before the lure of the US proves irresistible. His last hurrah as a Fantasy asset may never arrive.

What’s not in doubt is that Rooney will stretch every remaining sinew on his return to Goodison Park. Everton fans will be expectant but, in the main, Fantasy managers are likely to monitor with interest from afar.