Player Review

When I saw this card, I had to do him. I knew it would take a special card to replace Joao Felix POTM who has 400+ goal contributions in 190 games played for me, predominantly in fut champs and by all appearances this card looks special. EA have given him 4* skills (I struggle with attackers that don't have at least 4 star skills in this game), improved work rates, and boosted stats in all the key areas, especially stamina. It is such a well rounded card that I had a dilemma deciding what position to use him at as I believe he could make an excellent secondary CDM or CM, arriving late into the box to bang home goals. I ultimately decided to go with him at striker as I figured I would get better value for my coins there although I do have the flexibility to move him into the midfield by changing a couple of players around if I ever decide to some day.

I have him as a lone striker in the 4-2-3-1. Instructions are to stay forward, stay central, and get in behind. I decided to apply the engine chem style to address what I considered to be the "weaknesses" of the card as an attacker (really, I just wanted to get his pace, agility, balance, and key passing stats up above 90). I played 10 games with him in Div 4 rivals for the purposes of this review and intend to test him in fut champs this upcoming weekend. I am a gold 2 standard player if that helps you learn more about this card.

Let's dive a little deeper into the card, though.

Pace: Rooney is rapid, especially in a straight line. He isn't blistering fast like Lozano headliners but he has more than enough pace to get into a strong fut champs level team. Not too much to say here. But, once he gets past a defender, they aren't catching up easily, if at all. Even Varane.

Shooting: I would have expected a card with the un-boosted shooting stats this Rooney possesses to be a little bit better with his finishing. He missed some pretty easy chances for me, especially with his weak foot. I was starting to get a bit upset with him because my Felix finishes everything until he went on a goal scoring tear in the last few matches I played. Perhaps it was just me getting used to him after using a different striker for so long. However, Rooney does have one weapon in his arsenal that makes him a truly lethal striker: 99 shot power without a chem style. This is definitely noticeable. If he gets squared up and gets a good shot off, he absolutely drills the ball. In one instance, my opponent moved his keeper to prevent me from scoring cross goal. I didn't wait him out to see if he would so I could tuck it into the empty near corner and ended up shooting it right at the keeper. Silly me. But, it didn't matter because I scored anyway- Rooney hit the ball hard enough that it went right through the keeper's hands. You might say that "oh, that's just fifa being fifa", but after watching the replay, it is a save that I have seen goalkeepers make time and time again on lesser players so I am convinced that it was indeed the shot power that did it. In summary, Rooney isnt the best finisher I have used this year but he does have the attributes to make him a great goal scorer in FUT. Having the outside foot shot trait is a nice bonus and his finesse shots are also strong, although he does not possess that trait. I would have to describe his shooting as inconsistent because while he is capable of the spectacular with both feet, he misses just enough chances to make you a bit frustrated.

Dribbling: Rooney is a good dribbler. Despite the stocky build, he feels agile and quick. However, he doesn't provide you with truly elite dribbling. He doesn't have 5* skills, a custom body type with custom animations, or the flair trait, and occasionally takes a bad touch. The ball also doesn't seem to stick to him like it does with some attackers, The best dribbler I have used thus far in fifa 21 is my prime kaka who is truly special. He glides past defenders with ease and receives a speed boost like I have never seen before coming out of skill moves. Rooney does not have these special bonuses going for him but his dribbling is still very good. In summary, his dribbling won't hurt you but it won't win the game for you like with my Kaka.

Passing: Other than the occasional misplaced pass, I had no complaints here. He's not going to pick apart defences with his passing but he's not going to let you down either.

Defending: He has very good defending stats for a striker and you should definitely take advantage of that if you like to press your opponent at times like me. His tackling is definitely good enough to take the ball from the opposition and it will catch your opponent off guard since most attackers don't possess this level of defensive stats. It reminds me of tots KDB in fifa 20, which I played at CAM, and who, when I was pressing my opponent, often caught them off guard and stripped them of the ball in a very promising position with ease. I would say that his tackling is good enough to play as a secondary CDM or box to box CM, although it would definitely be less fun than playing him at striker.

Physical: his stamina is very good for a striker. But more importantly, Rooney is very strong. He pushes off defenders with ease. He has great strength and aggression, a stocky, short frame, and high agility and balance which make him quite tanky when someone tries to push hum off the ball. I recall a few instances of him pushing away Varane, a very useful attribute when everyone and their dog uses him in this game.

Intelligence: this is where Rooney truly made a difference for me and why I think I will keep him in my team over Felix at striker. He has High attacking work rates, which causes him to run in behind more than Felix did. He makes very effective runs and seems to draw AI defenders to him like a magnet. This was important because although he was not scoring at quite the same rate as Felix, he was opening up huge lanes for Kaka (my central CAM), and my 2 wide CAMs (Robben and Deulofeu) to run into (I have my wide CAMs set to get into the box). As a result, I was scoring more goals overall and with Robben especially, there was a noticeable uptick in production.

Links: The only true downside to this card and the main reason I didn't give him 5/5 value. It is difficult to get strong links to this card, and most of the best English soft links are defenders, other than Rashford, which means he'll be needing more links if you start him in the midfield to get him chem. The EFL championship cards are behind the power curve and would be unlikely to help you too much in FUT Champs, and the prices of useable English icons have gone through the roof. I would recommend starting in the 4-5-1 and putting him at striker and isolating him behind a couple of soft links (icons, ST Rashford, etc) unless you have a lot of icons or coins in your club. Post upgrade packs from TOTY, I suspect many of you reading this are like me and are a bit short on coins at the moment.

Overall Summary: Very good card. Elite shot power, physical attributes, straight line speed, and intelligence/positioning. Competitive in all other aspects of the game. If only his finishing was a little better/he had some dribbling attributes that gave him a little something special- he would be truly unstoppable. Get him in your team if you can get him on chem.