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Rooney's debut for Man United - Who were his teammates?

  /  autty

Wayne Rooney joined Manchester United in 2004 from Everton as an 18-year-old upcoming star for an initial transfer fee of £20 million and an additional £7 million in contingency payments which was a record fee for a player under 20 years of age at that point of time.

Rooney made his debut for the Red Devils in a Champions League group stage clash against Turkish side Fenerbahce on September 28, 2004. It was a dream debut for the teenager as he scored a hat-trick in Manchester United's 6-2 win. Ruud van Nistelrooy, Ryan Giggs and David Bellion scored the other three goals.

The former England international went to represent the club in 559 matches where he scored 253 goals. He is the club's all-time top goalscorer.

Here, we take a look at the players who played alongside Rooney in his debut match for Manchester United and where are they now?

One of the finest English central defenders of all time, Rio Ferdinand joined Manchester United in 2002 from their rivals Leeds United for a record transfer fee of £30 million at that time.

Ferdinand went on to play for 12 years at the club after which he joined Queens Park Rangers for a year in 2014 and retired from professional football in 2015.

He's working currently as a TV pundit among numerous other roles.

The French defender joined Manchester United in 1999 from Inter Milan and played at the club for nine seasons. After that, he played at Arsenal, Werder Bremen, Portland Timbers and finally retired from football after playing in the inaugural edition of the Indian Super League (ISL) in 2014.

After retirement, he joined Ligue 1 club Rennes as their director of football but left the job in December 2016 by mutual consent.

Silvestre is currently a Director of Football with Sports Invest UK. He also has a distillery business named Rhum St. Barth.

The Argentine full-back joined Manchester United from PSG in 2004 and played at the club for three seasons before joining Real Madrid. After leaving Real Madrid, Gabriel Heinze played for Marseille and AS Roma before retiring at Newell's Old Boys in 2014.

After retirement, Heinze turned to coaching and was most recently in charge of MLS outfit Atlanta United, from which he was sacked in July 2021.

The French attacker joined Manchester United from Sunderland in 2003 and stayed at the club until 2006. In 2005 he spent a season on loan at West Ham United. After leaving the Red Devils, David Bellion played for clubs like Nice and Bordeaux before ending his career in 2016 at French club Red Star FC. After retirement, he was appointed as the creative director of Red Star.

The Cameroonian midfielder played at Manchester United for two seasons from 2003 to 2005. Djemba-Djemba later played at Aston Villa, Qatar SC and also in the inaugural season of the ISL for Chennaiyin FC in 2014.

He retired from football in 2016 after spending a season at French fifth-tier club Châteaubriant.

The Brazilian midfielder joined Manchester United in 2003 from Atletico Paranaense and played at the club for two seasons. After leaving Manchester United, Kleberson played for Besiktas, Flamengo and Bahia in Brazil. He retired from professional football in 2016 after spending a season at American club Fort Lauderdale Strikers.

After retirement, he became an academy coach at MLS side Philadelphia Union in 2017, where he is working till date.

A one-club man and a legend at Manchester United, Giggs played for the club for 24 years. Ryan Giggs is the most-capped Manchester United player of all time with 936 caps under his belt.

Giggs was appointed as the player-cum-interim manager of Manchester United in the final four matches of the 2013-14 season after David Moyes was sacked. It was also his final season as a professional footballer.

After retirement, he immediately became the assistant manager under Louis van Gaal and remained in that position for the next two seasons. In 2018, Giggs was appointed as the manager of the Wales national team on a four-year contract. However, due to an ongoing alleged assault case against him, Giggs has not been discharging his duties as Wales manager since April 2021.

He is also the co-owner of League Two side Salford City.

A Manchester United legend and former captain, Wayne Rooney joined the Red Devils in 2004 from Everton and played at the club for 13 years. In 2017, he returned to his former club Everton for a season before moving to MLS side DC United where he spent a season.

In August 2019, Rooney returned to England to join Championship side Derby County as player-manager and in January 2021, he retired from professional football and became a full-time manager at the club.

The Manchester United academy product and a part of the famous Class of 92, Neville made his debut for the club in 1994 and played until 2005. The next eight seasons he spent at Everton before retiring from professional football in 2013.

After retirement, the defender worked as an assistant manager with the England U21 side and at Valencia. In 2015 he was the caretaker manager of Salford City along with Paul Scholes. Neville was also a 10 per cent stakeholder at the club. In 2018 he became the head coach of the England Women's national team. In January 2021, he joined MLS side Inter Miami as their new manager.

The Irish midfielder joined Manchester United from Celtic in 2004 and spent two seasons at the club out. In 2005, he was sent to Leeds United on a season-long loan. Liam Miller later played for English clubs QPR and Sunderland and also spent a considerable amount of time in the Australian A-League playing for clubs like Perth Glory, Brisbane Roar and Melbourne City FC.

He retired from professional football in 2016 after spending a season at American club Wilmington Hammerheads. After retirement, he joined a second-tier US club Real Monarchs as their assistant coach but left the job in November 2017 due to illness. He suffered from pancreatic cancer and unfortunately passed away at the age of 36 in February 2018.