Wayne Rooney hopes to have scored 200 goals for Manchester United before the end of the season.
The England international joined the Reds in a £27million move from Everton in the summer of 2004, and he has gone on to enjoy a hugely successful career at Old Trafford. As well as winning four Premier League titles, a UEFA Champions League and two League Cups, the forward has established himself as one of Sir Alex Ferguson’s key players of the recent era.
Rooney was on target in the 4-0 win over Norwich City on Saturday, which keeps United firmly in control for another league title. This goal takes his tally to 195 in 353 games in all competitions for the club, and he has now set his sights on taking this to 200 before the end of the campaign.
“It’s great to have played so many games for this club at such a young age and it would be nice to get to that 200 mark,” said the 27-year-old. “It would be an achievement I’d be proud of and, hopefully, I can get there between now and the end of the season.”
Such a tally would still leave Rooney standing in fourth place in the all-time top goalscorers for United, but would put him just 11 behind third-place Jack Rowley. But due to his age, he feels the best is yet to come, and this could see him eventually challenging second-place Denis Law (237), and ultimately Sir Bobby Charlton, who tops the list on 249 goals.
“The age I’m at now is the time when most players start to peak – from now and across the next four or five years. Hopefully, that will be the case and the team will benefit from that,” he added. “For now, I just want to keep myself fit until the end of the season now and play a part in as many games as I can to help the team be successful again.”
