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"I've got lots to learn", admits Rooney
Wayne Rooney admitted he still has "a lot to learn" in handling himself on and off the pitch as he set his sights on emulating "perfect pros", such as team-mates Gary and Phil Neville.
However, David Beckham has paid tribute to Rooney's increased maturity and the 19-year-old striker was honest in his own self-assessment ahead of tomorrow's World Cup qualifier against Azerbaijan. "It's nice when your team-mates are saying [positive] things about you and what you can achieve in the future," he declared. "I just try to learn from the senior players around me in the squad. There are a lot of people around who want to help me and I try to take advantage of that. "You are always wanting to learn as a professional footballer, how people do things on and off the pitch. I know that I've still got a lot to learn." "Gary and Phil Neville, for example, they do everything right. They eat all the right food and do all the right training. I'd probably say they are the perfect pros." Rooney believes his summer move to Manchester United has enabled him to progress in his career. "I think that it's helping me in a lot of ways," he told the Football Association's website. "I'm around top players, who have all played in World Cups and European Championships and who all still want to learn themselves." "You can only get better being around those type of players and it shows in the intensity of training every day." There are still concerns about Rooney's temperament, with Sven-Goran Eriksson having substituted him before half-time in Madrid last November to save him from being sent off. Teachers' unions and politicians have also expressed worries about Rooney's repeated swearing on the pitch, having been fortunate not to be sent off against Arsenal at Highbury by Graham Poll. However, Rooney is not the sort of person or player to be plagued by self-doubts in any field of life. When asked if he had ever doubted himself, he was unequivocal. "No, never. I am a footballer who is confident in myself and my ability on the pitch," he stressed. "From the first moment the manager has picked me for England, I have always thought that I am worthy of playing on this stage." "Obviously I think everyone feels pressure but, as soon as you go out on that pitch, you've got to do the best you can." first whistle, I am always 100% focused on the game. "As I say though, I am still learning and still young so if we qualify by the time the 2006 World Cup comes around hopefully I can be a much better player." Part of that improvement has come from learning to become a team player, with Rooney now as adept in setting up colleagues as scoring himself. "When I was younger, with Liverpool schoolboys and in the Everton youth team, I used to be a bit greedy and just want the ball myself the whole time," he admitted. "But as I've got older, I've realised how important it is to pass the ball, especially when players are in better positions. I think now I bring other players into the game much more." That was demonstrated against Northern Ireland, when Rooney used his strength to reach the byline before cutting the ball back towards Michael Owen, only for Chris Baird to score an own goal. Strength has always been one of Rooney's main attributes, which he puts down to his experience in amateur boxing, although he is now controlling his weight rather more effectively than in the past. " "My strength probably comes from the fact that I went to boxing for four or five years," he revealed. "I was only small when I was younger so I think that gave me a lot of my strength." "That is still an important part of the game as I like to hold defenders off but I don't do any weights or anything these days because I don't want to get too big. It's important to be able to move around the pitch." That is one lesson which he has learned. There are many others to come but at least his role models are Gary and Phil Neville, rather than Paul Gascoigne and George Best.
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