Futbol Chronicles: Wayne Rooney Is Relishing His ReNewed Scoring Role

Wayne Rooney now sees himself with an opportunity to reclaim his mantle as the best center-forward for both Manchester United and the English national squad.

Alex Ferguson officially moved Rooney to his natural center position for this season, therefore allowing Rooney to flourish in his role as a goal-scoring target man. It's early in the season, but Rooney already is looking his natural self in his new role.

He also relishes the challenge of being the top goal scorer for Manchester, going as far as to challenge himself to a 25-goal margin for this season. It's a good bet that Rooney can accomplish that number, but much would also have to be said about Berbatov.

Michael Owen is another top forward who suddenly finds himself wanting much to prove, and if he can sustain himself through possible injury and score a respectable 15 goals, it would be considered in Ferguson's mind an accomplishment.

Rooney is also being looked upon by England coach Fabio Capello to lead the charges of the English attack as well, which is another challenge that Rooney suddenly finds himself relishing even more than he might have in previous situations.

It's a nice return for Rooney—a return to the days when he was the focus of the attack, and not looked upon as being the supplemental player.

Cristiano Ronaldo, who left Manchester for Real Madrid this summer, proved to be the catalyst for Manchester's European and league successes in the last three seasons, but Rooney, in a sense, suffered under that limelight.

Even worse, while Ronaldo was busy scoring his way through the field, Rooney was often placed by Ferguson as a wide man, simply because the two players for some reason could not co-exist as a scoring tandem.

This often limited Rooney to the point that his goal-scoring ratio for both Manchester and England began to dip, but not too substantively.

Ronaldo's exit now opens the door for Rooney to reclaim his scoring mantle, which is exactly what Ferguson is giving Rooney. Also, with his newfound scoring confidence, Rooney knows his scoring touch would make a vital contributor for the Three Lions.

Only time will tell if Rooney can truly live up to his new billing. Only time would tell.