We say yes, yes, yes.
Writer Malcolm Gladwell is now famous for his theory in “Outliers” that in order to be great at anything you need to get in your 10,000 hours of practice. And already in the short life of this Best Player in the World project, we’ve made many references to Gladwell.
According to Gladwell’s theory then, Wayne Rooney long ago put in his 10,000 hours to become a great player. In fact, last year there were many experts saying that Rooney had become the best player in the world.
That best player status was however dismissed by much of the world after England’s poor showing at the South African World Cup this summer. Rooney’s own performance was poor and left many wondering what had happened and when Wayne would be back to his old feisty, goal-scoring self.
Recently, with the Premier League set to open, and Rooney still not looking himself, England manager Fabio Capello stated that Rooney needed more playing time to get back to being his best. Specifically, Capello said that Rooney needed 600 minutes. This number, Capello said, was based on his own research:
“I expect Wayne Rooney to have a good season but he needs to play…I studied him, along with a number of other players, for three years when I was a club manager, working out how long you needed to find normal form…It was 500-600 minutes minimum. At the moment he has played 150. For this reason. I think he needs to play a minimum of three more games to find his correct level.”
And Manchester United Assistant manager Mike Phelan seems to agree. He spoke after “The Shinning Star of Manchester” finally broke his goal scoring slump with a penalty against West Ham:
“Wayne came back to us a little bit dishevelled from his England exploits…But as long as you keep your head up and keep persevering, things like this will happen…Strikers can’t score every week, much as they would like to. Hopefully now he can relax, enjoy his football and carry on from where he left off…He is not 100% fit yet…He is still short on certain aspects of his game but that will come. Now he has got a couple of games with his national team and that will possibly help him.”
So – are these specific “research” numbers to be believed?
I believe so.
Wayne has already put in his 10,000 hours of practice time. I think that once he gets those 600 minutes of game time in – like Capello said – we will all be wondering why we doubted that he is in fact one of the very best players in the world.
