With World Cup fever just around the corner, we thought it a good time to look back on our interview with England's young prodigy, Wayne Rooney, on the eve of Euro 2004. 

An 18-year-old Rooney was just days away from making the sort of global impact on the game not seen since Pele in 1958. Unfortunately, a foot injury forced him out of the quarter-finals, England lost on penalties, and grown men filled their pint glasses with tears. But that didn't stop Sir Alex Ferguson from stumping up £26 million to take the teenager to old Trafford...  

Interview by Chris Bell, ONLYDNA: July 2004

WAYNE ROONEY
The Everton wonderkid on scoring, Scousers and Sven...

KEY STATS

Age: 18
Position: Striker
Caps: 11
Goals: 3

We’re playing France in the first game: have you researched a secret tactic for getting past Desailly?
Ha ha – no, not really. Sometimes when I’m on the bench I’ll look at the defenders and see where their weaknesses are, so I can exploit them. But I’m just going to do what I do every week – my best.

Who’ll be challenging for the Golden Boot in Euro 2004?
Obviously, Thierry Henry will be. And Van Nistelrooy – they’re both great strikers who score a lot of goals. But if I play as well as I know I can do, I think I have a chance. It’ll be great for the fans!

Who do you reckon is England’s secret weapon, apart from yourself?
I don’t know. We’ve got a lot of big players: Becks, Michael Owen, Steven Gerrard, the likes of Frank Lampard, John Terry... they’ve been brilliant this season. So hopefully we can all gel together and do it in Portugal.

Who do you reckon is the best goalkeeper in England?
Ha ha – difficult question. David James has done well when he’s played for England. Nigel Martyn’s going well for Everton. It’s not for me to say, but it would be great if Sven picks Nigel.

Talking of footballers, David James told us they should teach young lads how to deal with money and fame. Do you think that’s true?
Yeah, I think it could help them. Because obviously you’ve got these young footballers coming through now and they get money and sometimes you can be really stupid and do whatever with it. It would be a great help if they got sorted in school or whatever, if they showed them or gave them a few lessons a week. I think the players’ agents can help out here as well.

Before big games, do you get any performance anxiety?
Obviously you get nervous before a match. But the first five or ten minutes settles you down, and you relax. Everyone gets nervous.

You were the youngest player ever sent off in the Premiership. Are you doing anything to control your temper for England games?
Some centre halves try to wind me up, to make me get booked. But that’s why I’ve got to learn to control it, not get annoyed and show them by the way I play my football. Obviously I like to put a tackle in and have a bit of aggression. But that’s part of me, part of my game – so I’m not going to change it. And if I get sent off every so often, then that’s just the consequence I’ll have to deal with.

A surprisingly high proportion of footballers say they listen to Jay-Z before a game. Except for John Terry, who said Luther Vandross. How about yourself?
I don’t play no music. I just sit there and relax and then there’s music on the coach, so mostly Usher. Back home I may listen to Tupac, Biggy, Busted, Blue...

In the dressing room, when you, Gerrard and Carragher are talking pre-game, does Sven need a Swedish-Scouse translator on hand?
Ha ha! I’d love to say yes, but no – he can speak good English. We’ve all got different accents, so hopefully they can understand us.

As England’s football prodigy, do you worry you could go down the ill-fated Gazza route?
I just like to play my football. Obviously, when Gazza was young, he was a great player. But the game’s changed now, so I think you’ve got to keep your focus all the time, on and off the pitch.

Between the ages of 18 and 24, ONLYDNA was out on the town on a regular basis. Do you resent the fact you’re missing out on that?
No! There are a lot of people out there who’d like to be doing what I’m doing. I’m happy: I like going out and playing football, coming home and watching the telly. It doesn’t really bother me.

Will we see you experimenting with any daft haircuts?
No, no I don’t think you’ll see that. I think I’ll just keep it the same.

Not a mullet? What if the Seventies footballer perm comes back into fashion?
I don’t think so, I think I’ll just stay with me hair now.

You’re still living the dream though – didn’t you buy some racehorses recently?
No, that’s wrong. Someone wrote I’d bought two horses, and tried to call them Hoof-Hearted and Norfolk Enchants. And it’s all just rubbish. And no, my house hasn’t got a cinema in it, or an arcade. I don’t know where these things spring up from. Some journalist’s mind, probably.

Have you given much thought as to what you’d be doing if you weren’t a footballer. Is it true you trained as a boxer?
I used to do boxing training with my dad, but I wouldn’t want to do it professionally. I really don’t know what I’d be doing if I wasn’t a footballer.

Finally, you were photographed last year on a beach with Steven Gerrard. Can we ask you next time you’re going to have your photo taken, can you hold up a copy of ONLYDNA to give us some free publicity?
Ha ha. If I’ve got one on me I will – send me one and I’ll see what I can do.