Wayne Rooney was one of the most exciting talents in world football when he appeared for England in Euro 2004, going onto make 120 appearances for the Three Lions and scoring 53 goals.
His performance against France in that tournament is ranked at no.34 in FourFourTwo's list of the greatest individual performances of all time, and filled England fans with hope for the coming years.
However it all could have been so different for Wayne Rooney, who has revealed that he was eligible to turn out for the Republic of Ireland.
Wayne Rooney pledged allegiance to England after being snubbed a spot in Ireland's first team
Rooney was eligible to play for Ireland, and at just 16-years-old his international allegiance was questioned.
A call-up for the under-21's team came but was turned down by the teenager and he went on to play for England just months later.
Speaking on the Stick to Football podcast, brought to you by Sky Bet, Rooney said: "I spoke to Lee Carsley, and he spoke to Mick [McCarthy] and I was close to doing it and then, they called me up for Ireland U21s.
"I was like, ‘I’m not playing for Ireland U21s’. It obviously never happened, and I went to play for England. I would have probably went [and played for Ireland if they put me in the first team].”
Rooney, who is ranked at no.50 in FourFourTwo's list of the greatest players of all time, is England's second highest scorer of all-time with 53 goals in 120 games. He represented his country at six major tournaments but never made it past the quarter-finals.
One of most memorable match for England is probably for the wrong reasons, after he saw red against Portugal at the 2006 World Cup following an altercation with Ricardo Carvalho and then teammate Cristiano Ronaldo.
Following his dismissal, Ronaldo winked at the Portugal bench which Rooney responded to in a statement saying: "I bear no ill feeling to Cristiano but I'm disappointed that he chose to get involved. I suppose I do, though, have to remember that on that particular occasion we were not teammates."
