Wayne Rooney was brought up in Croxteth, Liverpool, where he attended the De Le Salle School from 1997 until 2002. He has two younger brothers who both later attended the school. Rooney grew up supporting Everton, and his childhood hero was Scottish striker Duncan Ferguson. Rooney first appeared for Everton in the youth team, and during his time there, after scoring a wonder-goal in the FA Youth Cup, he revealed a T-shirt under his jersey that read "Once a blue, Always a blue". However, he would end up playing just two seasons in the Everton first team before demanding, and then executing, a transfer. This has left him on unfavourable terms with Everton fans, and this showed when he returned to Goodison Park and was booed severely.

Rooney has been under an intense media spotlight since first arriving on the scene in the autumn of 2002, particularly coming to the public's notice on 19 October 2002 when he scored a memorable goal against title-holders Arsenal, ending their 30-match unbeaten run. Receiving the ball on the edge of the 18-yard box, Rooney brought it down with instant control and turned away from his marker before firing it into the top left-hand corner of the goal, beating England keeper David Seaman and giving Everton a late 2-1 victory at Goodison Park. This goal provoked Clive Tyldesley, the match commentator, to exclaim "Remember the name: Wayne Rooney!". Rooney was five days short of his 17th birthday when he scored the goal, making him the youngest ever goalscorer in the Premiership at the time. Rooney gained a huge reputation on the world stage due to his performance at Euro 2004, as he spearheaded the English attack, scoring four goals in three group games.

Rooney is regarded as one of the most exciting prospects of the modern football game, and his transfer fee from Everton still stands as the highest ever paid for a teenager. He usually played as a second striker to Ruud van Nistelrooy for Manchester United before van Nistelrooy's move to Real Madrid, although during 2005-06 he showed his versatility as a player by switching to the midfield and playing on both flanks. Rooney also has been compared to players such as Diego Maradona.

Before turning 17 and becoming eligible for a professional contract, he was playing for £80 a week and living with his family on one of the country's most troubled council estates. His salary has gradually soared and Rooney now earns more than £50,000 a week. Following intense media coverage of Rooney at Euro 2004, Everton claimed that they would not transfer his contract for less than £50 million. The club offered Rooney a new contract for £12,000 a week for three years. This, however, was turned down by Rooney's agent on the 27 August 2004, leaving Manchester United and Newcastle United to compete for his signature.

The Times newspaper reported that Newcastle were close to signing the young star for £18.5 million, a fact later confirmed by Rooney's agent. Manchester United, however, were the successful club in signing the young talent. Rooney handed in a transfer request to Everton and on the evening of 31 August 2004, Rooney signed for Manchester United after a deal worth around £31 million (£49 million including wages) was agreed. The deal was concluded just hours before the transfer deadline.

The initial fee of £23m was paid to Everton over two years; the rest of the money depends on appearances and/or success at Manchester United and/or England. It is likely the fee will reach the maximum £31m within the next 3 years. A final fee in the region of £30m plus costs is more likely. In the club's 2004-05 accounts, Rooney's contract is recorded as having a book cost of £25.066 million as at 30 June 2005, with contingent payables of £4 million, giving a maximum final fee of £29.066 million including costs.

Rooney's transfer fee is the second highest for an exclusively British deal, with only his Manchester United team-mate Rio Ferdinand commanding a higher fee. Rooney does, however, have the honour of being the most expensive teenage footballer ever, being a few weeks short of his 19th birthday when Manchester United signed him.Rooney made his debut for Manchester United on 28 September 2004 in the UEFA Champions League against Fenerbahçe, scoring a hat-trick and also an assist (the match finished in a 6-2 win for United). He got his first professional Winners Medal in the 2006 English League Cup. He was also named Man of the Match in the League Cup final against Wigan Athletic, after scoring two goals in the final (a 4-0 victory for United), en route to winning his first senior medal. He was also a member of the United side defeated in the 2005 FA Cup Final by Arsenal. He captained Manchester United for the first time in a home Champions League match against Copenhagen on 17 October 2006, becoming probably the youngest captain in the clubs' history.

During the first half of the 2006-7 season, Rooney went 10 games without a goal before scoring a hat-trick against Bolton. Nevertheless, as of February 2007 he was the top English goalscorer in the Premiership, and had received significantly fewer bookings than in previous seasons. Rooney scored his first goal for two-and-a-half years in Europe in a 2-1 defeat to A.S. Roma on 4 April 2007 in the quarter-final first leg of the Champions League. His scoring in the tournament continued in the quarter-final second leg against Roma and the semi-final first leg on, when he scored two goals in the 3-2 victory over A.C. Milan, the second a low first-time drive into the bottom right-hand corner. By the end of April, Rooney had scored 23 goals for his team in all competitions, putting him level with team-mate Cristiano Ronaldo in terms of goals scored in all competitions in the 2006-07 season.

On 30 June 2007, it was announced that Rooney would take over the number 10 shirt vacated by Ruud van Nistelrooy when he left for Real Madrid just over a year earlier. He was formally presented with the shirt by former United and Scotland striker Denis Law, who famously wore the number during his prolific spell with the club.

Rooney has also figured prominently in recent England international matches, after having become the youngest ever player to play for England, in a friendly against Australia, on 12 February 2003, aged 17 years, 111 days. This record has since been surpassed by Theo Walcott, who came off the bench to play in England's friendly against Hungary on 30 May 2006. Before Rooney, England's youngest ever player was James F. M. Prinsep of Clapham Rovers, who made his debut almost one and a quarter centuries before, on 5 April 1879, aged 17 years, 253 days. Rooney is also the youngest England scorer ever (17 years, 317 days).

On 9 March 2006, Rooney signed the largest sports book deal in publishing history with the publishers HarperCollins. He is to receive a £5 million advance, plus royalties, for a minimum of five books to be published over a twelve-year period. The first book, My Story So Far, an autobiography ghost-written by Hunter Davies, was published after the World Cup. As part of the same publishing deal with HarperCollins, the Official Wayne Rooney Annual was produced as a spin-off publication. Aimed at the teenage market, the annual was edited by football journalist Chris Hunt.

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