EPL Tournament Props: Will Wayne Rooney Score More Than 10 Goals?

It seems incredible that people are asking whether or not a player who is second in the English Premier League all-time goalscoring charts is going to be able to score at least 10 Premier League goals this season, but that is exactly what is happening with Wayne Rooney right now. The 31-year-old has always scored goals and will continue to do so until the day comes that he hangs up his boots and calls time on his long and illustrious career.

A Brief Look at Wayne Rooney’s Career

Rooney burst onto the scene in 2002 when he made his debut for Everton aged only 16-years-old. In his first professional season, Rooney made a total of 34 appearances, 20 of those from the bench, and scored six goals; one of the four seasons Rooney has scored less than 10 times.

The following season, Rooney started 26 matches, made eight substitute appearances and scored nine goals before Manchester United paid £25.6 million to secure the youngster’s services.

In his first season at United, Rooney fired in 11 goals and made 10 assists in what was a great start to his career at Old Trafford. Rooney continued to develop as a player and became a firm favorite with Manchester United’s fans. 

The 2009/10 season saw Rooney smash in 26 goals in 32 games in what was his best ever goal tally at the time. It was during this season that Rooney was named the PFA Players’ Player of the Year.

Two seasons later, Rooney was unstoppable again, scoring 27 goals in 32 games, which is still his best haul in his career. Rooney scored a free kick in the dying minutes of a 1-1 draw with Stoke City on January 21, 2017 to become United’s all-time leading goalscorer with 250 goals, surpassing the 249 goals scored by English legend Bobby Charlton and doing so 215 games and four season quicker than the World Cup winner. Rooney ended the season with only five goals in 28 Premier League appearances (13 as a sub), his lowest-ever tally.

After United bought Romelu Lukaku from Everton for £75 million, Rooney returned to Merseyside on a free transfer having scored 253 goals in 559 games for United, 183 of those goals and 393 appearances coming from Premier League games.

Where Will Rooney Play For Everton?

Rooney is better-known as a forward or even an out and out striker who is capable of playing killer passes and scoring goals with either foot, his head and from anywhere on the pitch.

During his penultimate season with United, Louis van Gaal deployed Rooney in a midfield role, sometimes very deep on the pitch, which explains why Rooney only managed to score eight goals during his 27 appearances in a red shirt.

Last season, with Jose Mourinho in charge of the Red Devils, Rooney was reduced to a bit part player. Mourinho favored Zlatan Ibrahimovic up front and had his own ideas as to what United’s midfield should look like, which limited Rooney to 15 starts and 13 appearances as a substitute. To put that last figure in perspective, Rooney made more appearances from the bench last season than he had done in his previous seven seasons with the club.

Everton manager Ronald Koeman hasn’t publicly said where he plans to play Rooney this season, although with the club having lost Lukaku during the summer and having failed to purchase another striker, it is likely Rooney will lead the line for Everton once again.

This is not only great news for Everton, but also for Rooney because it is his favored role and one that he excels in. As he is going to be Everton’s main goal threat, Koeman should instruct his players to supply Rooney with the ball at every opportunity and when a player with the quality of Rooney is on the ball, magical things can and do happen; it is also worth noting that Rooney is likely to be Everton’s first choice penalty taker and will take more than his fair share of free kicks around the edge of the penalty area.

Why Rooney Will Score More Than 10 Goals

Our friends at Bovada price Wayne Rooney being the Premier League top goalscorer at a massive +6600 this season. Compare that to Harry Kane at +275 and you can see how unlikely it is that Rooney will win the Golden Boot.

While I would not advocate backing Rooney to score enough goals to top the scoring charts, I would jump all over any bet that says he will score more than 10 Premier League goals for Everton during the 2017/18 season. Why? For the following reasons.

Rooney has only ever not scored 10 league goals in four of his 15 pro seasons. Two of those were as a 16 and 17-year-old, one was when he played in midfield and the final one was when Mourinho didn’t play him for United. Rooney actually average 13.2 goals per season over his career.

Another reason is that Rooney is likely to play in his favored role as a number 10 or even an out and out striker. Being the main forward for Everton will see him given plenty of chances to score and players of Rooney’s quality tend to put away their chances.

Finally, Rooney was recently dropped from the England national team despite him formerly being the captain. With the 2018 FIFA World Cup coming at the end of the current season, Rooney will be doing everything in his power to give England manager Gareth Southgate a selection headache when he chooses his squad to head to Russia.

With Rooney being 31-years-old now, this could be his final shot at World Cup glory. That should be motivation enough to see Rooney rediscover his goalscoring prowess.

Category : Betting Picks

Tag : everton , manchester united , Premier League , Wayne Rooney

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