Wayne Rooney has put an end to all the speculations about his career and has headed back “home” to join his childhood club Everton, where his career took baby steps before they got turned into giant leaps.
The England captain, who is also the leading goal scorer for his country, was having a rough time in the last few seasons at his former club Manchester United, with his age catching up on his performance and making it difficult for the current man in charge at Old Trafford, Jose Mourinho, to choose him automatically in the starting line-up.
The Manchester United captain, who had to give up his armband to Antonio Valencia in the later stages of the last season, was used more as a midfielder or a withdrawn forward and was getting repeatedly overshadowed by his peers like Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Marcus Rashford and Anthony Martial.
Wayne Rooney played for 13 long years for the Red Devils, the period being the most glorious of his career. However, recent jolts were heavy enough to demotivate the English skipper to make a decision about his career and he chose to make a comeback to Everton, where he is supposed to stay until the end of his career.
Ronald Koeman, the current coach of the Merseyside club, has been very happy with the return of the “prodigal son” to the club and is looking to use him in his starting line-up from the very first game of the season. However, before that, there needs to be experimentation about which position is going to make Rooney comfortable and allow him to play a pivotal role for his team in the next term.
It is possible for the Dutchman to use the England international in his lineup both as a lone striker or as a midfielder, and the best way to find it out will be on the pitch during the pre-season games, that the Toffees are currently playing in Tanzania.
Wayne Rooney has been playing as a striker for most of the time in his career and has a prolific scoring record for his club and his country. However, in the recent past, he has been used as a midfielder as well and it will not be a bad idea for Ronald Koeman to use him as an attacking midfielder, playing support to the main striker.
In both the cases, with Rooney playing as a midfielder or as a lone striker, the Everton lineup can be more or less like this-
Pickford, Holgate, Williams, Keane, Baines, Gueye, Schneiderlin, Davies/McCarthy, Klaassen/Rooney, Klaassen/Davies, Rooney/ Sandro
