Desperate for another match-winner in the mould of Paul Gascoigne, fans and pundits alike immediately hailed him as the future of English football, and over the next few years in which he moved to Manchester United he did not disappoint.
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Tuesday's extraordinary news conference by shell-shocked Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson in which the Scot spoke candidly about Rooney's desire to quit Old Trafford sent shockwaves around the footballing world.
Rumours of huge wage demands immediately pointed the 24-year-old's likely future towards United's mega-rich rivals Manchester City - a move that were it to happen would turn him into a pariah in the red half of town.
"If he thought he already lived in a goldfish bowl then that would be nothing compared to if he went to City," Sammy McIlroy, who played for both club, told the BBC on Wednesday.
"It's an unbelievable situation. Carlos Tevez has done the same thing and at the moment has done very well.
"But to go just across the water with the fans at United loving him, he could be in for a rough ride."
Tevez made the move from United to City in 2009 but was largely forgiven by United fans, who realised the Argentine's hand had been forced by the Old Trafford money-men.
If Rooney were to defect, he would have no such sympathy and any flirtation with who Ferguson once described as the "noisy neighbours" down the road would make the next few months almost impossible for him at Old Trafford.
ROONEY'S CALL
Ferguson cleverly left the ball firmly in Rooney's court on Tuesday and the striker will have to make his intentions clear, sooner rather than later.
"I think there is more to it than money," Ince, who left United to join Inter Milan and later played for Liverpool, told BBC Radio. "It's never been about money with Wayne, it's been about his hunger for the game.
"We as a nation put a lo
