Premier League Hall of Fame Inducts Wayne Rooney, Patrick Vieira

The Premier League Hall of Fame has welcomed two new faces to its prestigious collective: Wayne Rooney and Patrick Vieira.

On Wednesday, 23 March, the pair of footballing legends respectively became the ninth and tenth members to join the Hall of Fame, which includes Alan Shearer, David Beckham, Frank Lampard, Thierry Henry and Roy Keane.

Rooney has collected many badges of honour during his time with Manchester United (2004-2017) and his stint as skipper for the English national team (2000-2018); he is a five-time English Premier League winner, having helped the Red Devils claim the title in 2007, 2008, 2009, 2011 and 2013.

He can also boast about having scored the second most amount of English Premier League goals by a single player at 208, while Shearer claims first place with 260 goals.

Additionally, the 36-year-old former forward – now manager of Derby County – has scored the most goals, 53, for England, and is the second most capped at 120 appearances.

Vieira captained Arsenal’s “Invincibles” under Arsene Wenger between 2003 and 2004, when the Gunners recorded zero losses during the season.

The 45-year-old former midfielder made 307 appearances – scoring 31 times and assisting on 34 occasions – in the Premier League and led Arsenal to claim the title in 1998, 2002 and 2004. When he departed the team, his name carried immense weight as he joined Juventus, Inter Milan, and then finally finished his career with Manchester City.

Rooney was grateful to be “recognised” by the Hall of Fame, while Vieira called it a “fantastic achievement.”

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