At just 20 years of age, Wayne Rooney is already one of the best footballers in the world. From his early years in Croxteth, his Premiership debut as a 16-year-old, his dramatic entrance on the international scene in Euro 2004, to the last kick of the 2006 World Cup, this is his amazing story so far. All football pundits agree that for England to have any chance of victory at this summer's World Cup Rooney must be fit. It is a level of national expectation on one player the like of which has not been seen since Pele and Maradona steered Brazil and Argentina to World Cup glory. What is the true story behind the most talked-about person in British football? Were there signs of things to come in his upbringing in the backstreets of Liverpool? What were the early influences that shaped his character? And how has the meteoric rise to fame and fortune affected this seemingly shy yet prodigiously gifted youngster? For the first time in his own words, Rooney opens up about the defining years of his life as the son of