'In his final weeks before flying the Old Trafford nest to take charge of Middlesbrough, Steve McClaren reflected on another European Cup disappointment by suggesting that Manchester United would need to find "another Eric Cantona, someone who can inspire not just the players but everyone at the club" if they were to reassert their greatness on a continental scale. Players have come and gone from Old Trafford since that summer of 2001, several of them having looked entirely out of place on the biggest stage in English club football, but McClaren believes that United have finally found their new Cantona.
Did United truly need Wayne Rooney last August, when they had already spent £20 million on their attack by signing Louis Saha and Alan Smith in the previous seven months? A more sensible option might have been to sign a new goalkeeper or a successor to an ageing Roy Keane, but, in McClaren’s words, Sir Alex Ferguson "went out on a limb" to buy Rooney and, while imperfections remain elsewhere in the team, the 19-year-old could be said to have captured the imagination like no United player since Cantona. In the words of another United great, Peter Schmeichel, "Rooney might not have done as many spectacular things as people expected when he hit that hat-trick against Fenerbahçe on his debut, but he’s contributed enormously".
And when the mood takes him, as it did on Saturday, he can take the breath away. Television cameras caught Ferguson gasping in apparent disbelief at the youngster’s first goal against Middlesbrough, a delicious chip from 35 yards, but that was perhaps bettered by the quality of his second, an instinctive volley that was bound for the top corner the moment it left his right boot.
Rooney hailed them as "two of the best goals I’ve scored in my career", Ferguson called them "incredible" and even McClaren was awe-struck. "I know all about Wayne from my involvement with England and today he just confirmed what he’s all about," the Middlesbrough manager said. "What boundaries can you put on a player like that who is 19 and playing for Manchester United? As soon as I knew they were after him, I thought, ‘yes, he’s a Manchester United player’. You have to be a certain type of character to play here and he’s one of them. I saw his first game here. That was an instant message that he can be a player who, like Cantona, can inspire everyone around him and change the whole place. It’s a club for heroes and he will be a hero here. He is already."'