Wayne Rooney remains a divisive character within the ranks of Manchester United supporters.
While Lionel Messi was praising the striker this week, and Rooney is two goals off the England goalscoring record [of 49], it can be argued that he has failed to truly live up to the world-class level he promised in his early years as a professional.
Rooney turns 30 in October but, judging by these statistics released by United, he still takes some beating in the fastest player stakes.
Three of United’s fastest recorded speeds belong to Rooney, with Ashley Young and Luke Shaw also featuring. Shaw just edges out Phil Jones, according to United, but the central defender also clocked a 34.25 km/h.
The date was collated by analysts Tracab, who use six cameras within Premier League stadiums, ‘unique software and visual recognition’ to capture the information.
It is a slightly different matter on United’s training ground. James Wilson revealed, last season, that Young, Shaw and Chris Smalling were the paciest players.
When it comes to matchday, however, Rooney comes up trumps.
