page_title: Wayne Rooney
section_title: 2010–11: Ambition dispute
hierarchical_section_title: Wayne Rooney / Club career / Manchester United / 2010–11: Ambition dispute
caption_attribution_description: English: Wayne Rooney about to take a free kick vs MLS All Stars in 2011
context_page_description: Wayne Mark Rooney is an English professional footballer and captain for Championship club Derby County. He has played much of his career as a forward, and he has also been used in various midfield roles. Widely considered to be one of the best players of his generation, Rooney is the record goalscorer for both the England national team and Manchester United.
  Rooney joined the Everton youth team at the age of 9 and made his professional debut for the club in 2002 at the age of 16. He spent two seasons at the Merseyside club, before moving to Manchester United for £25.6 million in the 2004 summer transfer window where he won 16 trophies and became the only English player, alongside teammate Michael Carrick, to win the Premier League, FA Cup, UEFA Champions League, League Cup, UEFA Europa League, and FIFA Club World Cup. He scored 253 goals for United in all competitions to make him their top goalscorer of all time, with 183 Premier League goals being the most scored by a player for any single club. Rooney's 208 Premier League goals make him the Premier League's second-top scorer of all time. He also has the third-highest number of assists in the Premier League, with 103.
context_section_description: On 28 August 2010, Rooney scored his first goal of the season as he netted a penalty in a 3–0 home win over West Ham United. In October, Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson stated at a press conference that Rooney wanted to quit the club. This came after a period of dispute as to the extent of Rooney's ankle injury, where Rooney had refuted Ferguson's claim that the injury was the reason Rooney had been dropped to the bench. Rooney and his representatives released a statement regarding his decision to leave the club, insisting it was not down to money but ambition. Following this statement, Rooney made a dramatic U-turn and agreed a new five-year contract at Manchester United until June 2015.
  Rooney made his return to the first team as a substitute against Wigan on 20 November. Four days later, he returned to the starting line-up and scored a penalty in a 1–0 away win over Rangers in the Champions League. He missed a penalty in a 1–0 home win over Arsenal on 13 December. His first goal of the season from open play came on 1 January 2011 in a 2–1 away win over West Bromwich Albion. On 1 February, Rooney scored twice and provided an assist for Nemanja Vidić in a 3–1 home win over Aston Villa. On 12 February, Rooney scored an overhead bicycle kick in the 78th minute of the Manchester derby, which proved to be the winning goal in their 2–1 win over Manchester City. After the match, Rooney said it was the best goal of his career, before Sir Alex Ferguson described the strike as the best goal he had ever witnessed at Old Trafford. Two weeks later, he scored the third goal in a 4–0 away win over Wigan, before opening the scoring in a 2–1 away loss to Chelsea on 1 March. Rooney scored the second goal in a 2–0 home win over Arsenal in an FA Cup tie on 12 March.
  On 2 April, United came from two goals down as Rooney scored his first hat-trick of the season in a 4–2 away win over West Ham. This was his fifth hat-trick for Manchester United, whilst the second goal was his 100th in the Premier League for the club. He became the third Manchester United player to score 100 Premier League goals, joining Ryan Giggs and Paul Scholes. During Rooney's celebrations following his third goal, he swore into a pitchside camera and was subsequently charged by the FA for using offensive language. Rooney accepted the charge, but not the automatic two-match ban which was handed to him. He appealed against the length of the suspension, calling it "excessive", but failed to overturn the ban, which ruled him out of the FA Cup semi-final against Manchester City on 16 April. The following game on 6 April saw Rooney score in a 1–0 away win against Chelsea in the Champions League quarter-final first leg. He followed this goal up with another strike in the semi-final first leg against German side Schalke 04 on 26 April, scoring the second of a 2–0 away win. This was the first time Rooney had returned to the Veltins-Arena in Gelsenkirchen since his sending off during the 2006 FIFA World Cup against Portugal.
  On 14 May 2011, Rooney scored a penalty for United to equalise in a 1–1 draw against Blackburn at Ewood Park in the penultimate game of the Premier League season – enough to secure a record 19th top division title for United, and giving Rooney his fourth Premier League title winner's medal.
caption: Rooney preparing to take a free kick for Manchester United vs MLS All Stars at the Red Bull Arena in New Jersey, July 2011
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