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Wayne Rooney Has Been Named The Greatest England Player Of All Time

Wayne Rooney Has Been Named The Greatest England Player Of All Time

The votes are in.

Wayne Rooney has beaten Paul Gascoigne and other legends to be named the greatest English player of all time.

The Manchester United legend is England's top goalscorer with 53 goals in 120 appearances across a 15 year international career.

Over 34,000 fans voted on a recent SPORTbible poll and Rooney earned a whopping 52 per cent of the votes.

Second place was Gascoigne who earned just 19.3 per cent of the votes.

Check out the full rankings below:

Bobby Charlton and Bobby Moore were part of the Three Lions side that achieved World Cup glory in 1966 but it wasn't enough to put them ahead of Rooney and Gascoigne.

'Gazza' was a national treasure in the 90s and his tears on the pitch at Italia 90 helped shape a generation of football fans.

Top spot belongs to Rooney however who burst onto the scene as a 16-year-old with Everton in 2002.

He'd make his England debut a year later, becoming the youngest player to represent the national team at the time.

Euro 2004 saw Rooney take it to some of the world's biggest names, with his performance against France in the opening group game being a standout.

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Alamy

Rooney bullied Lilian Thuram and left the likes of Thierry Henry and Zinedine Zidane stunned with his physical attributes.

It was during that game the Derby County manager thought he was one of the best players in the world.

He said in his new ROONEY documentary: "Their centre-backs were scared to go near me. They could see physically I could handle myself against them.

"I remember thinking, 'I'm the best player in the world'. I believe, at that time, I was."

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Alamy

Many would argue that was the peak of his international career after being sent off at the 2006 World Cup and putting in a poor showing in South Africa four years later.

Rooney became England captain in 2014 following Steven Gerrard's retirement and he'd hold the armband until he stepped away in 2017.

He'd return for one game in 2018, to raise awareness for a new charity.

Featured Image Credit: Alamy

Topics: England, Wayne Rooney