James McFadden has explained just how incredible Wayne Rooney was when he first arrived at Everton.
McFadden made an appearance in a joint-video by The Margins and Open Goal on YouTube, and reflected on his playing career, which spanned from 2000 to 2018.
Where would you rank Wayne Rooney among Everton’s best-ever players?
Rooney burst onto the scene, but spent his best years away from Merseyside…
An overview of Wayne Rooney's career for Everton.
Credit: Getty Images/Alex Dodd – CameraSport.
McFadden first pitched up at Everton in 2003, and he would go on to make 147 appearances for the club across two spells.
Initially, McFadden was signed to be a player for the future. But he quickly got regular minutes under David Moyes and was clearly a young player with a bit about him.
But there was also another player in that category, and his name was Wayne Rooney, who McFadden has hailed.
James McFadden recounts playing with Wayne Rooney at Everton
Few players have burst onto the scene quite like Wayne Rooney did for Everton back in 2002.
His famous goal against Arsenal put him on everyone’s radar, and many, many more goals would follow in his career.
MORE EVERTON STORIES
Everyone knows Rooney was something special when he was coming through at Everton, but McFadden has gone into some further detail about his former teammate.
Wayne Rooney playing for Everton.
Photo by Chris Lobina/Offside via Getty Images
He said: “I think he was 17 when I signed. His mentality was… at that point he was one of the best players in the world. You wouldn’t know (he was so young).
“He just came in to have fun. I was about 69, 70 kilos, but that man, he was a wee tank. Probably one of the strongest there. Like, physical, fast, strong, his technique was ridiculous. Honestly.
“He’d go from here up to that goal, ‘Crossbar’ and he’d ping it off the crossbar and start laughing, he’s like ‘Haha, I’m brilliant’.
“He was the best player. 17 years old. He knew he was special, but he was so 17 in his mind that it wasn’t special to him. That was just him. And everybody knew how good he was.
“If he played off the left and was cutting in and wanted to get a shot off, he’d always get his shot away. He’d always step and flick it and get his shot away, but how can you do that every time?
“His (football brain) was all natural. I laugh when I talk about it. And we get it a lot, ‘The current players are the best ever’. He’s the best ever. Wayne Rooney was an absolute joke how good he was. Everything he could do. I think that, in my opinion to end the debate, whatever position he played the game, he’d have been world-class, any one of them.”
It is fascinating to hear from a player who shared the dressing room with Rooney as he was coming through at Everton in McFadden.
You really do get the sense from the Scot that he was simply otherworldly.
Wayne Rooney ahead of playing for Everton.
Photo by Alex Livesey/Getty Images
It remains a remarkable thing for a player to be that good at that age, and arguably, English football is still waiting for another young player of that calibre to burst onto the scene again.
There are some incredible talents in the game at the moment.
And if any of them come anywhere close to having the career Rooney had, then that would be quite something.
Join Our Newsletter
Receive a digest of our best Everton content each week direct to your mailbox