Charlton: Club & Country Lucky To Have Wazza

Whilst Paddy Crerand is piling the praise on Darren Fletcher today, Sir Bobby Charlton has spoken of his great admiration for Wayne Rooney.

Sir Bobby reckons both club and country are lucky to have Wayne and looks to our young striker being able to bag 50 goals or more for England.

“Wayne Rooney is a very important person for club and country,” said Charlton. “I think United and England are very lucky to have someone of his character and ability. He is always pleased to listen to you and pick up any advice and help he can. Wayne has great ambitions and he wants to be the best and will ensure he does everything to achieve that.”

As usual, England fans’ hopes are placed firmly on the shoulders of one of our players, with Rooney the irreplaceable talent in the team. Sir Bobby reckons Rooney is the key to England achieving success at the World Cup.

“From England’s point of view we have suffered from inconsistency for a good 20 to 30 years,” he added. “But we are getting a consistent look to our game now under Fabio Capello. If the team continue to perform well and Wayne is also key to that, then I think we can start thinking about success again at international level. I don’t worry about talking about Wayne like this or the fact that people see him as so vital for England these days, because he is a big lad, a strong character and can handle the pressure.”

Aged just 23-years-old, Rooney has 24 International goals to his name in 54 games. Sir Bobby Charlton reckons Rooney will beat our legend’s own England goalscoring record, which stands at 49,

Tom Finney, Nat Lofthouse and Alan Shearer are on 30, then there’s Michael Owen on 40 goals, Jimmy Greaves on 44, Gary Lineker on 48 and Sir Bobby on 49.

“I would really have no problems if Wayne eventually got beyond 50. There are a lot of goals to come from him,” he continued.