Wayne Rooney Compared To Pele

footy news blog

Quite interesting comparisons being made ahead of Man United’s match against Benfica tonight in the Champions League with Benfica coach Jorge Jesus claiming that Wayne Rooney is more Brazilian or Argentinian than English.

An interesting point, Rooney perhaps does play with the ability that often comes with Brazilians and Argentinians; he’s not dissimilar from the likes of Carlos Tevez in the way he’s stocky, powerful and a great goalscorer.

wayne rooney pele

When asked for his own opinion, manager Alex Ferguson feels that Rooney actually reminds him of Pele in the way that Pele was a very aggressive attacker, who was able to look after himself. He went on to state that Rooney and Pele both have stength, speed and determination.

An interesting proposal really, and having never seen much of Pele in action – apart from scoring goals of course, I don’t feel that I’m in a position to pass judgement. However, Pele looked to be more of an out-and-out goalscorer, whereas Rooney is more involved in the play – setting up chances as well as taking his own.

What I do know however, is that they’re both two brilliant strikers, completely different, with Rooney likely to join Pele in the history books in several regards.

By Matt

Matt is the owner and chief-editor of the Footy Blog, one of the UK's leading football news blogs.