Source: Daily_Mail
Is Rooney the white Pele? There’s some way to go but he has the God-given potential
Top dog: United's Wayne Rooney wows the fans[LNB]This is not what Manchester United fans had in mind the other night when they hoisted a banner proclaiming Wayne Rooney as the white Pele, but the most immediate comparison with the greatest footballer of all time is simply that of size.[LNB]The search for the new Pele has long been football's equivalent of the quest for the Holy Grail, but more recent generations of lovers of the beautiful game are always amazed to be told that Edson Arantes do Nascimento stood only a smidgen above 5ft 7in.[LNB]Rooney is only about three inches taller but he, too, is a giant presence on the pitch. He is cast in the same squat, powerful and virtually unstoppable mould. But the new Pele? That really is a tall order.[LNB]First, not in style of play but in phenomenal impact, he has to live up to George Best in the annals of Old Trafford.[LNB]The arguments are still raging as to whether Rooney's immediate predecessor as United's star turn, Cristiano Ronaldo, succeeded in that ambition.[LNB]Not for me. And since Ronaldo is a truly thrilling player, that tells us how far Rooney has to climb before he stands up there alongside Pele. The wonderfully tantalising prospect is that he just may have the God-given potential to do so.[LNB]Although he is not blessed with quite the two-footed dexterity of Pele, he compensates by generating even more power.[LNB]If not quite as electric off the mark, Rooney sustains higher pace through longer runs. There are also shades of Pele in his intangible instinct for finding space and that uncanny reading of the play.[LNB]Then there is the unselfishness which enables the truly great player to channel his ego into telepathic interplay with his team-mates.[LNB]
