Wayne Rooney: 'I need World Cup win to truly eclipse Sir Bobby Charlton'

By Joe Fish, Reporter | 12 November 2014

While he is on track to break his goalscoring record, Wayne Rooney admits that he will not truly eclipse Sir Bobby Charlton's England legacy unless he wins the World Cup.

Wayne Rooney has admitted that he would have to win the World Cup to truly eclipse what Sir Bobby Charlton achieved with England.

The Three Lions skipper has scored 43 goals ahead of his 100th international cap against Slovenia on Saturday.

While he is on track to break Charlton's England goalscoring record of 49, Rooney has conceded that he would be able not trump the former Manchester United midfielder's legacy without a World Cup win.

"Obviously I'm not going to be as big a legend as Sir Bobby Charlton," the 29-year-old writes in Saturday's programme for England's Euro 2016 qualifier at Wembley. "He's won the World Cup with England.

"To be England's greatest ever goalscorer would be massive," added the former Everton player. The record has stood for so many years, there have been plenty of players who haven't been able to break it.

"I'm still relatively young and believe I can do it. To eclipse Sir Bobby I'd have to win the World Cup, which would be a massive achievement."

Rooney still has Jimmy Greaves (44) and Gary Lineker (48) to surpass before he can close in on Charlton's tally.