Wayne Rooney is widely considered one of the best players in Premier League history. He’s definitely one of Manchester United’s all-time greats and their highest-ever goal-scorer with 252 goals. But Rooney was never one to pursue modelling work on the side, like ex-teammate Cristiano Ronaldo.
The Englishman was never really the most attractive of footballers. He looked like a footballer from the 1970s one who was never bothered about becoming overly handsome. He never really tried attaining a peak physique either, being focused on scoring goals and winning matches. But at least during his playing days, Rooney maintained his fitness and kept himself in decent shape.
Well, that appears to have now gone out the window. It’s been three years since Rooney hung up his boots. He immediately turned entered a management career, doing a pretty admirable job at Derby County before underwhelming spells at DC United and Birmingham City. Since his sacking at Birmingham, Rooney is now open to doing some punditry as he waits for his next job.
He appeared on the Premier League Productions’ pundit panel for the thrilling 2-2 draw between Manchester United and Liverpool at the weekend. Having participated in countless of these matches in his career, and being from Merseyside himself, nobody better than Wayne could signify the importance and emotions of this match.
While his punditry work was solid, some fans were totally bamboozled over just how his physical state has transformed. There is notable shock among some supporters, who probably haven’t followed Rooney in recent years, regards to how different he looks. That is because the Englishman is no longer the sturdy, fit forward that dominated the goal-scoring stats at Manchester United.
Rooney has seemingly put on quite a bit of weight. He has also become chubbier than before, especially when it comes to fat growing on his face. The 38-year-old has little hair on his head and has been accused of looking like someone reaching 50, than one to reach 40 in 2025.
Rooney is actually younger than his former teammate Cristiano Ronaldo, but the different in terms of their physique is incredible. Ronaldo still looks like someone in his twenties, while the Englishman seems much, much older than him.
It’s quite clear that years after his retirement, Rooney is still enjoying his post-football life. The Englishman doesn’t really have the day-to-day training sessions or brutal exercises to think about anymore. He isn’t obliged to play intense football matches or even work himself in training sessions as a manager.
The 38-year-old actually has a history of letting himself go and being somewhat indisciplined. During his time at Manchester United, Rooney was often fined for failing to turn up to training or returning from holidays vastly overweight. In his 2012 book, My Decade In The Premier League, he even admitted once returning to pre-season training 7 lbs overweight and wrote: “I’m like most blokes, I put on a few pounds after a holiday. Even if I don’t train for a week, I put on two or three. I drank a few bevvies while I was away. I’m stocky. I’m not like Ryan Giggs, all bone and lean muscle. But I gain weight quite easily.”
Rooney appears to have this condition where he rapidly gains weight once he stops his high-intensity training work. This is an issue that actually plagues many footballers because their bodies become accustomed to a certain high quantity of training and exercises every day.
Once they stop working at that kind of high level, and can’t control their diet, their body tends to let go and gain mass rapidly. This is also why ex-footballers like Mesut Ozil or Fernando Torres have been working so hard in the gym to maintain optimum physical shape after retirement.
The ex-Manchester United captain has admitted to having battled alcoholism in the past and have a tendency to enjoy a few beers or some unhealthy food. Now that he’s not restricted to any strict diet anymore, he is free to do and eat whatever he wants. With Rooney rumoured to have earned a whopping £85 million in wages in his last 10 years as a footballer, he’s more than sure to live a lavish lifestyle – especially as he keeps getting such punditry gigs too.
To his credit, Rooney has never been one to be irked by jibes at his appearance. He’s one to be dedicated to his work, be it scoring goals as a footballer, guiding his teams to glory as a manager or giving objective, hard-hitting opinions as a pundit – all while not caring about how he looks.
