39. Wayne Rooney (2002-04)

67 appearances, 15 goals

Wayne Rooney - What If?

It neither began nor ended with that goal; a precocious Rooney lobbing a vandal’s brick over Seaman’s head to shatter an unbeaten Arsenal. The Rooney phenomenon was already something of an open secret amongst those in-the-know at Goodison, and he went on to score other great goals for Everton, performing an impossibly sharp u-turn at Elland Road whilst leaving Lucas Radebe for dead, as well as a great return goal at Arsenal’s place . The rest of this blue fairy tale remains unwritten; Wayne didn’t go on to drag us into a golden age, instead the bullish street-fighter left for Old Trafford. No matter how much dirt emerges about Rooney, no matter how much the Scouse genius runs roughshod over his “Once a Blue, always a Blue” oath of fealty with obnoxious and hypocritical badge-kissing, Rooney is surely the greatest talent to come through Everton’s youth team (also displaying flashes of excellence in Blue that haven’t yet been replicated in red) and deserves his place on this list.