Weyne Rooney retires from professional football

Manchester United’s all-time leading goalscorer Wayne Rooney has retired from professional football, at the age of 35.

Wayne has been appointed full-time manager of Championship side Derby County, a job he had been doing on an interim basis since the departure of Phillip Cocu in November.

Our former striker last featured in the Rams’ playing squad later that month, and has now confirmed that he will be hanging up his boots in order to focus on his coaching career.

Wayne will undoubtedly go down in history as one of United’s – and, indeed, English football’s – greatest-ever forwards.

After breaking through at Everton, he completed his transfer to Old Trafford in August 2004, becoming the world’s most expensive teenager in the process.

In the subsequent 13 years he spent in Manchester, he more than repaid that significant fee, scoring 253 goals in 559 games to overtake Sir Bobby Charlton at the summit of our all-time scoring charts.