Wayne Rooney has become Manchester United's all time top goalscorer. The United captain has now broken the record at both club and country.
Rooney joined the club as a teenager back in the summer of 2004 and kicked off his goal scoring record with the Old Trafford side with a hat-trick on debut against Fenerbahce in the Champions League.
The Liverpudlian teenager earned himself the high profile move to Old Trafford after a stunning Euro 2004 in which his injury against Portugal all but ended England's hopes of progressing.
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Newcastle United made an approach for the striker that summer and, fearing they would miss out if they didn't move for him then, the Old Trafford team offered Everton £30 million and got their man.
Rooney ended his first season in red as United's top goalscorer with 11 league goals as the Old Trafford side failed to win a trophy and could only finish third in the league.
'Wazza' of course has not been without his controversies as a Manchester United player. As well as his aggression sometimes getting the better of him the Englishman has twice asked for transfers away from the club.
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In October 2010 he handed in a transfer request and rumours started building that he could move to newly minted rivals Manchester City.
Again in 2013, having clashed with a departing Sir Alex Ferguson, he asked to be left out of the final game of the season against Swansea before handing in a transfer request.
On both occasions he would eventually sign a new deal with David Moyes smoothing things over on his arrival at Old Trafford.
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Those two incidents and his dwindling powers over the last few seasons might raise questions among some United fans as to whether or not he is a club legend on the same scale as Sir Bobby Charlton.
Take a look at our video of Rooney's best tweets:
It is the legendary Charlton, who's record of 249 goals had stood since 1973, that Rooney has beaten in 221 less games. The World Cup winner was also the man who held England's record before Rooney broke that last year.
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The 31 year old has won five Premier League title at Old Trafford but it took him till his third season at the 'Theatre of Dreams' until he got his hand on the league title.
After winning the League cup in 2006 there was a couple of frustrating league seasons, in which Chelsea won the league, Rooney, Fergie and the rest of the team wrestled the title back from Stamford Bridge.
Soon though he had collected the League Cup, back-to-back league titles the Community Shield and a Champions League medal after United won the first all English final against Chelsea in Moscow.
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United were back in the final a year later in Rome against Barcelona but they were unable to beat Pep Guardiola's team. Two years later they had a chance to exact revenge in the final at Wembley.
Rooney scored a fantastic goal in that game to level the scores at 1-1 following Pedro's equaliser. However from then it was left to him and his teammates to watch one of the greatest performances of our time as Barca won 3-1.
In 2009/10 season the front man became the 20th United player to score 100 goals for the club and later on in the season he scored all four goals against Hull in a 4-0 win, the first time in his career he scored four in a match.
Things went full circle later that year when Rooney scored his 100th league goal against Arsenal who he famously scored his first senior goal against for Everton. That year he won the PFA Player of the Year despite United's failure to win the league.
Because he loves scoring goals against Arsenal the United player would score his 150th goal for the club against the Gunners as part of a hat-trick in the side's 8-2 win at Old Trafford.
He scored both goals in his 500th senior game, and 350th league appearance for United, in a 2-1 win over fierce rivals Liverpool.
Under David Moyes he signed a new deal till 2019 and was the club's top scorer and assist maker in the season with 19 goals and 10 assists.
In the Louis van Gaal era Rooney became club captain at Old Trafford and was once again the club's top scorer in the first season under the Dutchman.
On January 2nd 2016 the England and United captain became the Premier League's second top scorer of all time when his goal against Swansea took him past Andy Cole and also past Dennis Law in United's own list.
Incredibly it took the striker till May 2016 to get his hands on the FA Cup trophy. Previously the team who'd won the competition most the Red Devils hadn't won it since 2004 but after two failed finals LvG's side beat Crystal Palace 2-1 with Rooney playing all 120 minutes and helping to set up the equaliser.
This season Rooney has spent less time on the pitch under Jose Mourinho but still managed to score five goals and looked, arguably, better than he did under the last season of Van Gaal.
His strike on in the FA Cup third round took him level with Charlton but today he passed that mark by scoring a fantastic late free kick against Stoke City to give United a draw.
The last year has been hard on Rooney who has seen his importance to the first team slightly diminish but he has continued to battle and his place in the Red Devil's history is unquestionable.
Well done Wayne Rooney, a true great of the modern era and a Manchester United legend!
Featured Image Credit:Topics: Football, Wayne Rooney
