Former Everton midfielder describes training with ‘world-class’ 15-year-old Wayne Rooney

Former Everton midfielder Lee Carsley has revealed what it was like when Wayne Rooney first began to train with the first-team as a 15-year-old, claiming he already knew he would be world-class from a young age.

Rooney burst onto the scene as a youngster, unlike a certain former Manchester City full-back (sorry Micah), as he stunned the footballing world in 2002 by scoring an incredible goal from distance aged just 16. His unstoppable strike from distance beat David Seamann - which is no mean feat - as he gave his side the win and wrote the first chapter in what would go onto be an exceptional career.

In recent years, Rooney has revealed how boxing as a young teenager allowed him to toughen up as well as develop a strong physique at a young age that eventually allowed him to compete with physically imposing players when he broke into the first-team. One image depicts a 18-year-old Rooney squaring up to hugely-imposing Patrick Vieira in his first season after leaving Everton, and that aggressiveness was there to see from the very start according to Carsley.

The former Everton midfielder now finds himself as the England U21 manager and it was during his prime years at Everton when the youngster broke through. Speaking to FourFourTwo, Carsley told the media outlet that Rooney was doing ‘ridiculous’ things in training and embarrassing plenty of older players with his incredible ability.

“People often say young players are going to be world-class, but I saw Wayne at 15 so I know what that looks like!” Carsley says. “In training, he was knocking over senior players, scoring hat-tricks and just doing ridiculous things.

“Wayne was outstanding – I couldn’t pick out a weakness in his game. Probably the biggest strength he had was his mentality. He always wanted more.

“I never had the feeling that anything got too much for him, regardless of the fuss that was going on around him and the amount of attention he received. Nothing changed. That was down to the grounding and the support he had.”

Carsley is currently attempting to guide the extremely-talented U21 national side to glory at the U21 European Championships, who haven’t won it since 1984. The squad features Everton’s Jarrad Branthwaite and James Garner, whilst Liverpool’s Curtis Jones and Harvey Elliott are also included.

Rooney finished career with 313 goals and 170 assists in 764 games and won 16 trophies across a glittering career. He has since turned to management with Derby County before heading to America to coach DC United, which is his current role.

If Rooney can utilise the same mentality he displayed as a player during his managerial exploits, then he surely won’t go far wrong. But one thing is for sure, no-one will ever forget the extraordinary rise of the sensation that was a teenage Wayne Rooney.