BBC Sport Academy | Football | Features | Rooney's the best: It's official

They've said he's better than Pele and George Best, perhaps potentially the best footballer ever to boot a ball.

It's the one and only Wayne Rooney. But just how good is he?

Time will tell, but thanks to some amazing technology, the Academy can show there's more to this super striker than just goals.

It's all down to ProZone and some very special equipment they use at some of the top clubs, including Arsenal and Man Utd.

Thanks to specially-placed cameras around a football pitch and a very clever computer, the players' performances can be analysed.

Wayne bagged four goals at Euro 2004
There's more than just goals to this boy

Player speed, distances covered, areas where they are most active, tackles made, plus loads of others, can all be measured in a match.

And after studying several games last season the figures on Wayne prove truly remarkable.

How far does Wayne run?
He covers around 11.82km during a match. This is incredibly almost 1km more than Luis Figo's average! And strikers are supposed to do less work.

How much of this is spent sprinting?
This is all broken down into different categories of speed.

4,000m Wayne is walking

4,800m jogging

1500m running

1,000m light sprinting

500m sprinting

There are hundreds of things a player can be measured on
Wayne's successful passes in a game

Where does Wayne do most work?
As a forward you wouldn't expect him to be in the defensive half. Wrong! Nearly 10% of his time is spent in the defending zone.

Surely strikers aren't supposed to be back there! And 31% of his time is spent in and around the penalty box sniffing for goals.

What about headers and actually kicking the ball?
On average, Wayne heads the ball twice, uses his chest 13 times and his feet touches the ball 90 times in one game!

How quick is this boy?
As shown at Euro 2004, Rooney has the pace to burn past most defenders.

He clocks up 9.70 metres per second. And that's not too far off the pace of a sprinter like Maurice Greene who weighs in at just over 10 m/s.

Who knows what the future holds for Wayne, but these facts show he is definitely one very special player.


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