Former Leeds United star James Milner has opened up on how the emergence of Wayne Rooney at Everton helped take the "limelight" off him as he embarked on his career in senior football.
Both Rooney and Milner made their senior club debuts in 2002, before going on to break the record for the Premier League's youngest goalscorers in their debut season.
Rooney initially took the record when he scored a stunning effort from range against Arsenal on 19 October 2002, bringing an end to the Gunners' 30-game unbeaten run.
But just two months later - and after then Leeds boss Terry Venables had put his faith in him, he responded by turning home Jason Wilcox's low cross against Sunderland at the Stadium of Light to write his own name into the record books.
All the focus, though, remained on Rooney, with the forward making his England debut and being dubbed the next big thing during the 2002/03 season.
And Milner has now revealed how he was more than happy for Rooney to be getting all the attention.
"I know some people play and they want to be famous, but I think I was the opposite of that,” Milner told The Athletic at the launch of his new book.
“Wazza (Rooney) coming through at the same time probably helped me because, with what he was doing at Everton, he got a lot more of the limelight. That was fine by me.”
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