“He’s the biggest English talent I’ve seen here, since I’ve been in England,” says the former manager Arsene Wenger in this new documentary, in footage taken from a post-match interview, shortly after his Arsenal side had been sunk by a wonder-goal from the 16-year-old Wayne Rooney. “I hope he will not be injured now, in the next two or three years, and that mentally he’ll be able to cope with what’s happening to him. He’s a huge talent.”
Looking back with the help of this documentary, released almost two decades on from that breakthrough goal, it seems fair to say Wenger, in his typically astute way, mapped out the future of this prodigious teenager. Rooney was undoubtedly the most gifted English footballer of his generation, but also someone hampered by injuries at the cruellest of times, and who seemed able cope with pressure of fame and expectation as much as he fell victim to it.
