Wayne Rooney is no stranger to breaking records - after all he is the youngest player ever to wear the colours of the senior England team. But even he will be rubbing his hands with delight over his latest feat. The Manchester United striker has clinched a £5-million book deal - the biggest ever such advance in the sporting world - with publisher HarperCollins.
Under the agreement the 20-year-old football ace will write a minimum of five books about his life, with the first due out just after this summer's World Cup. In the autumn a Wayne Rooney annual will follow aimed at younger fans.
As he signed the contract in London yesterday Wayne revealed that he is a bit of a bookworm, listing the Harry Potter series and a biography of Muhammad Ali as among his favourite reads. Asked what fiancée Coleen McLoughlin has on her bedside table, the sportsman replied: "The phone."
And in the remote possibility the former Everton player ever finds himself short of a bob or two, he can also contemplate the £3 million Asda is offering him and Coleen, 19, to be the faces of an ad campaign for the supermarket giant.
The couple are close to inking a deal with the company, which won a battle with four other stores to sign them up. It's planned that the Liverpudlian teen will produce a range of beauty products with Asda.
Photo: © Alphapress.com
Photo: © Alphapress.com
