Wayne Rooney: His Destiny Fulfilled as a Manchester United Superstar

The irony is supreme. Almost nine years ago on October 29, 2002 Arsenal were The Untouchables and Arsene Wenger was Le Professeur of a side that was unbeaten in 30 games and heading for a 1-1 draw against Everton at Goodison.

Enter a 16-year-old named Wayne Rooney. Less than 10 minutes into his appearance as a substitute and with 28 seconds of the game left, the £80 per week apprentice lets it fly with an audacious, 30-yard curler that arcs gracefully over David Seaman and into the net off the underside of the bar.

Rooney becomes the youngest-ever top-flight scorer and two years later arrives at Old Trafford on a record £27M fee.

Fast forward to Sunday and the academics of the Premier League are reduced to amateur dramatics.

Rooney, having ended that 30-game run back in 2002, is the architect of destruction again. And this time it's not just about a great run, it is about being the man who laid the dynamite and fired the charges to finally destroy the very foundation of what Wenger built through all that time.

That foundation has been creaking and sagging for quite a while now. No longer. Rooney laid waste to it and unlike back in ’02, there will be no recovery.

There were plenty of other fine performers as Manchester United obliterated Arsenal during the 8-2 victory that will stand for years as one of the iconic moments in English soccer history.

There, was, however, only one scorer of a hat trick, only one Wayne Rooney.

There was only one player on that Old Trafford pitch who was actually fulfilling his destiny as one of the great, great players, of the modern game.

The wait to see if Rooney would be able to transcend to the kind of level occupied only by the likes, currently, of Messi, Ronaldo and Iniesta has been long, and for him the road has been troubled at times.

There have been off-field problems (such as dalliances with ladies of the night, smoking and urinating in public-things) that he was supposed to have left behind him in Toxteth, Liverpool, where he was brought up.

There was, last season, a ban for much too liberal use of Anglo Saxon swear words right into a TV camera.

Histrionics, loss of composure and sheer mad-eyed rage have often accompanied his desire to be a winner. Some believed his inability to control his emotions would ultimately prove disastrous for him while an ankle injury, for a while, badly debilitated him.

10 months ago came the transfer request over his belief that he was being underpaid and that United was not paying enough to bring in the right players.

At the moment, more than at any time in his career, Rooney was in danger of losing it all.

Not the money. Real Madrid or Barcelona would have paid him the money but he was in danger of losing sight of the path that Sir Alex Ferguson had laid out for him when he made such a phenomenal investment in 2004.

Rooney was born to be a United player, he was born to be educated by someone like Ferguson. What he needed to do was complete his growing up and had he moved elsewhere, no matter how well cared for he may have been, he would not have grown to be a man in the best environment possible for someone like him—because Ferguson hails from means streets, too, he has dealt with so many who needed his special touch to finally find themselves.

Ferguson’s legacy, when he leaves Old Trafford, is obvious to any follower of soccer but in Rooney he will also leave something that will be worthy of very special mention.

Rooney was a raw, big-chested kid who could have gone in any direction back then when he scored against Arsenal. There have been plenty of other, hugely-talented young men who have been dazzled and then blinded by the bright lights of possible stardom.

Luckily for him, having been first so well guided by David Moyes, he found himself in the right place to not only continue his career but develop into a quite wonderful, gifted player.

The maturing of Rooney is a sight to behold. It is one that not only United fans will glory over, but that fans all over the world will appreciate and enjoy. Rooney adds only to the Beautiful Game when, once, it might all have turned ugly for him.

Welcome to superstardom, Wayne Rooney. Come, meet Lionel and Andres and Cristiano. You are a member of their club now