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World Cup winner Marcel Desailly believes Wayne
Rooney has now moved into the group of current world greats. While
all the talk has surrounded the personal battle between Cristiano
Ronaldo and Lionel Messi in Wednesday night's Champions League
final in Rome, Rooney's presence has largely been
ignored.
However, it is felt that had voting been taken now, the former
Everton star would have been close to landing the PFA player of the
year prize, with England set to benefit in next month's World Cup
qualifiers against Kazakhstan and Andorra.
And Desailly, who won the European Cup with AC Milan as well as
the World Cup with France, feels Rooney has deserved the accolade
of one of the world's best.
"Rooney is a world class player," said the former Chelsea
star.
"He is among the elite, there is no doubt in my mind about that
at all.
"The only problem is the England national team have not done
anything to confirm it."
Desailly feels Rooney's arrival on the scene as a callow
teenager at Euro 2004 has tended to obscure the vast improvements
he has made to his game.
Aside from goalscoring and forceful attacking play, Rooney has
also learned the art of defending and it is likely he will be asked
to provide assistance to Patrice Evra on the United left as the
Premier League champions attempt to subdue Messi.
"Wayne came into the game such a long time ago," said
Desailly.
"Since then he has shown how good he is, both tactically and
technically. "With the goals as well he has shown he is an amazing
player. He is top class."
Yet Desailly does not believe Rooney's contribution will be
enough to allow United to become the first side to retain the
European Cup since it was rebranded as the Champions League.
"For the players it would be something special to retain the
Champions League," he said. "You have all that pressure to deal
with and have been working all year to get there. "If you look at
the two teams, they are both full of exceptionally gifted
players.
"But Barcelona have a bit extra. They can hold their shape from
the beginning to the end. They are the ones I think will win."
