Very few young English players have burst onto the scene quite like Wayne Rooney, with today being 24 years since that amazing goal against Arsenal.

Wayne Rooney is now forging a very solid career as a pundit for BBC Sport, and is regularly seen on Match of the Day. He also put in a very impressive showing at the World Cup for the broadcaster.

But of course, Rooney remains one of the finest footballers England has ever produced, having scored 208 goals in the Premier League across spells with Everton and Manchester United.

He was a generational talent and if you ask people the greatest goal he ever scored, the chances are every other person would give a different one, given how good his catalogue is.

But potentially, his very first against Arsenal was the most important, but there was something that surprised Rooney in the famous moment.

What surprised Wayne Rooney about his iconic goal vs Arsenal amid 24-year anniversary

In 2002, Everton hosted Arsenal at Goodison Park in the Premier League.

Arsenal were widely expected to beat Everton, and there was rather a David vs Goliath narrative ahead of kick-off. The Gunners came into the game as reigning Double winners, sitting top of the table and on a 30-game unbeaten run.

But as we all saw, Wayne Rooney tore up the script.

He had made his debut for Everton a couple of months prior and there were people who knew that the Toffees were sitting on a special young talent. But it was against Arsenal that he became famous, and it marked the start of an incredible career.

With the game looking like it was headed for a 1-1 draw, Rooney was introduced to the action in the 80th minute. Just over nine minutes later, he made his decisive impact.

The ball was punted forward hopefully by Thomas Gravesen, and Rooney watched the ball over his shoulder before pulling it down with ease, quickly turning with the ball. Taking just one touch to get it out of his feet, Rooney unleashed a curling effort from 25 yards to beat David Seaman, with the ball kissing the underside of the crossbar.

Rooney said in a TikTok video a few years ago that he was actually taken by surprise by how much room Sol Campbell gave him to shoot. He said: “I just remember the ball in the air, and bringing it down and I was surprised really. Sol backed off and give me the space. I just thought, ‘Why not have a go?’ And the feeling after it was just nuts.

“I always wanted to score before I was 17. And this was the last game I had before I turned 17.”

Amusingly, Rooney then stated that he actually played football outside with his mates back near where he lived after the game.

Campbell might well have engaged Rooney and blocked his shot all those years ago. But it’s hard to believe, having watched his incredible career, that things would have gone much differently had that iconic goal against Arsenal never happened. He was simply too talented.