Wayne Rooney needs no introduction at Old Trafford and beyond yet, while his record-breaking achievements for Everton, Manchester United and England are locked into the history books, his impact in America and willingness to embrace MLS issues have seldom been told to such extent.
After bursting onto the scene as a raw, generational teenage prospect at Everton to fulfilling that promise here at United and with the national team, Rooney enjoyed his footballing swansong in the American capital, Washington, before cutting his managerial teeth with cash-strapped Derby County.
In an 18-month spell at D.C. United, the former United captain and club-record goalscorer showed that he still had the magic touch with 25 goals and 14 assists in 52 appearances. Rooney also made his presence known off the field and that stance will be embraced upon his prospective return.
READ MORE: Rooney set for MLS managerial role
Indeed, after leaving Derby this summer, the 36-year-old is set for an immediate return to management at D.C. and that brings more good news for MLS as outlined by former teammate Quincy Amarikwa, who spent a priceless season on and off the pitch with Rooney in 2019.
Amarikwa was interviewed for his insight on the United great for the book entitled Rooney: Teenage Kicks , which is available to purchase with 25 per cent discount at www.reachsportshop.com. Here is what Amarikwa, 34, said about Rooney's impact during a lengthy excerpt from the book that was written by Wayne Barton.
The MLS is a league that's been fighting to get its own market share, its own attention and respect. It's a struggle and identity crisis. A lot of foreign internationals who come here encounter great difficulties navigating the system. It's not as established as what they're used to. There isn't as much money. Things that you don’t have to even think about in other leagues are things that are massive hindrances to players.
I started calling it the MSL, the Mental Strength League, because in order to survive you need mental strength. If you come from a place with higher standards it's not until you go to a place where it isn't like that, you're met with the same sort of issues you faced when you were first coming into the professional world. It's a rewiring.
Take the Premier League - there are consequences. If you lose too many games you'll get relegated, you could lose your job. If you have a bad performance there are a million analysts ready to tell you how bad you are. There is a level of pressure and expectation. When you come to the States it's the polar opposite. You could have the worst game in the world and nobody really cares. Nobody's dragging you for your performance. That creates an issue with your accountability. You have to hold yourself to standards.
A lot of players struggle with the fact there are no expectations for them. Because you showing up was all that was necessary. But in professional sports just showing up is enough. So a player comes in with the ambition of getting into the play-offs, but that's not necessarily the ambition of the squad they're walking into. Play-offs matter because you want to win an MLS Cup. But if you don't make play-offs you get an extra month's vacation. It's an $800 bonus to get to the play-offs, and sure if you win maybe a $10,000 bonus and after taxes, £5,000, but you've taken two months of your time. If you don't make the play-offs you get all this time off and nobody is really going to talk about how you didn't get there.
And so I did appreciate that Wayne did even more, because he did want to win and he was trying to make a positive change. He was trying to positively influence the league, the players, to make everything better. I hadn't seen nor heard of a player of that profile coming into the league and showing such a willingness to engage with players, to learn about the players' association and attend some of the meetings, asking questions.
I cared, so it was liberating to see a player with Wayne's profile making the same stand. We'd had the conversations and Wayne would vent his frustration. My response would always be, 'Bro, I know, MSL'. He was a catalyst for conversations like this. The league needed someone like David Beckham for that first big boost. It put MLS on the map.
What it needed next was a player like Wayne who was coming in with the right intentions. He would speak up about things that were wrong about the system so the league could realise its ambition of being one of the better leagues in the world. [David] Beckham's impact can be seen based on where we got to as a result of his time here, and I feel that Wayne's will be viewed similarly and I believe it should be perceived as more powerful and more valuable.
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