Wayne Rooney - growing up in Manchester

The big worry about Wayne Rooney last season, his first with the mighty Red Devils, was marked by some fabulous football and a worryingly large amount of petulance that seemed to get in the way of the football.




Many people were commenting as to whether Rooney could resist all the temptations of fame or be overwhelmed by it as so many, from Paul Gascoigne to Diego Maradona have been in the past. And now that referees' have the power to send people off for foul language, it could have meant that Wayne would pick up a lot of suspensions throughout the course of a 9 or 10 month season.

Fortunately, it looks as though the wonderkid is starting to mature nicely, as this article on Times Online, the "best of The Times and Sunday Times online in real time", shows.

If Rooney keeps up this level of development, then a lot of defenders throughout England, Europe, and next Summer, the World are going to start having nightmares about the latest great number 8.