England: 5 Reasons Rooney Is More Valuable Than Neymar

2. There's No I In €˜Team€™

Wayne Rooney burst onto the scene as a 16 year old with Everton. Anyone with a passing interest in football knew the scouser was England€™s next big thing, and a £25.6million move to Manchester United followed, for whom he scored a hattrick against Fenerbahce on his debut, but since then his career has been quite the rollercoaster. Details of his private life has covered the front pages on the tabloids, after initially starring for England in Euro 2004 he was wretched as England slumped out of the 2010 World Cup in South Africa, and there was the ugly contract dispute with United that managed to make even the most ardent United hater feel sympathy for Alex Ferguson! With the signing of Robin van Persie, Rooney appears to be playing without the weight of the world on his shoulders. After the departures of Cristiano Ronaldo and Carlos Tevez to Real Madrid and Manchester City respectively, Rooney had to carry the United team but now he is settled in his role as a team player. With England it is the same €“ Jack Wilshere is the new great English hope, and Rooney can settle down and do his bit for the team. Neymar is Brazil€™s darling. He earns an estimated ‚20million a year from sponsorship deals with the likes of Nike, Panasonic, Volkswagen, Red Bull, Unilever and Santander. Sportspro magazine voted him the most marketable player in the world, ahead of Messi, Ronaldo, and even David Beckham. He is on the cover of computer games, magazines, and as mentioned people like Pele already consider him the world€™s best. To be fair to the player, he plays down these accolades, and it is more the expectations of others that result in Neymar becoming the star player that the vast Brazilian population expect to win them the World Cup. Because of these expectations, and because Neymar has shown he can score wonderful individual efforts, the forward can become blinkered in his play, and if his mazy dribbles are not coming off, he doesn€™t offer much more. We€™ve covered their differing work rates, but we also saw on Wednesday night that Rooney looks to get involved in the game, become one of the central players of the England team through effort and perspiration, while Neymar edged towards the periphery, scared and humbled. When Rooney has a bad day he will help the team and do his best to help others make game changing moves. Neymar has the ability to do it all by himself, but unlike Rooney when his moves are not coming off, he offers little else to the side.