Rooney: I don’t need the Ballon d’Or

Rooney: I don’t need the Ballon d’Or

England striker Wayne Rooney claims he doesn’t
need the Ballon d’Or like Cristiano Ronaldo does and
says team honours are more important to him than
the individual prize.
Ronaldo has won a whole host of them – including
the Ballon d’Or in 2008 and 2013 – but Rooney says
he is more concerned about helping England to team
glory.
Rooney said: “I’m not a player who needs that,”
“Not like Cristiano Ronaldo, he has to have that and
you admire him for it.
“I’m more about winning things as a team. He
wants his moments.”
Asked if he was bothered about never winning a
Ballon D’Or, the 28-year old added: “It’s more
important for me to win trophies as a team.
“I’ve won PFA Player of the Year, which is nowhere
near as good as winning a trophy with United.”
Rooney faces Italy on Saturday in England’s World
Cup opener, with increasing doubts being cast on his
right to be a certain starter in Roy Hodgson’s team.
Yesterday he renewed his attack on former United
team-mate Paul Scholes who told Hodgson he
needed to have the balls to drop Rooney if he did
not perform and that the striker was past his best.
“I’m sure he’s upset a lot of people at the
Manchester United because they saw me as worthy
of signing a new deal at the club, so they obviously
have a different opinion to what Paul has,” he
added.
“It’s very strange what he said, very strange. But
I’m sure he has his reasons for it.
“I’ve not spoken to him. I’ve never had his phone
number and he’s never had mine.”
Meanwhile Rooney reckoned England were better
now than Italy, unlike at Euro 2012 when the Azzurri
KO’d Hodgson’s men.
“Probably, it is the best squad of players I’ve been
involved with since I’ve been with England,” he
added
“It is great to be a part of and I am looking forward
to this tournament and the future with England – it
certainly looks bright.”
“I think we have (moved ahead of Italy). The team
we’ve got is, not just the team but the squad, is a
youthful one, a lot of energy and excitement.
“In terms of Italy, it is more or less the same squad
so it will be an interesting game for us to see how
we’ve moved on and how we’ve progressed in those
two years.”