Wayne Rooney was aware of his own commercial appeal at just 16 years old, according to his agent Paul Stretford, who was speaking at a panel discussion at the Leaders conference in London.
Stretford said Rooney, who has 10 million followers on Twitter and is now one of the world’s most famous football players, was at 16 years old "very aware of his own presence" and "very aware of his commerciality and he’s continually built on that since."
Stretford was speaking on a panel along with Paulo Sousa, manager of Swiss club Basel, Burnley Manager Sean Dyche, and Mark Schwarzer, the back-up goalkeeper at Chelsea.
The panel discussed a number of issues including the role of FIFA, the role of social media in football, player power, third-party ownership of players and challenges in reforming the game of football.
There was some disagreement amongst the panel regarding the third-party ownership of players, which is still prevalent in the Portuguese-speaking world but banned in the U.K.
Sousa: "I think it was a consequence of bad decision of clubs. And the needs of the clubs economically."
But Street said that third party ownership of players had "helped football in Brazil."
Street said that without third-party ownership in Brazil, football in the country would "have been in dire straits."
Dyche said third-party ownership of young players meant that "it’s hard knowing who is making the decision." Dyche: "Is he [the player] making the decision or is he just told you are going there? That can’t be good."
Schwarzer said, "There has to be a clear line of who is in charge of this person’s future and ultimately it should be the player and the club to a degree."
CALLS FOR CHANGE: The panelists were asked how they would like to reform the game of football.
Schwarzer pointed the finger at FIFA, which he suggested needed reforming.
He said, “I find it really really disappointing that we have a governing body that has so little trust globally.”
Street said the decision to hold the World Cup in Qatar and possible knock-on effect it could create was difficult to comprehend. He said that if it is moved to being hosted at a different time of the year, it could have significant adverse impact on the English Premier League.
Schwarzer agreed and said, “It’s ridiculous to play at that time of the year. And I don’t even know why there is a debate. They had a committee that went out there and said 'it’s not safe to play at that time of year' but still award it."
Dyche said one key thing he would like to see reformed in the Premier League is "retrospective bans for cheating." Dyche said, "Some of the stuff you see now is borderline ridiculous."
John Reynolds is a writer in London.
