Rooney has advice for Prem's new young Gun

WAYNE ROONEY admitted he found it “surreal” watching Max Dowman make his Premier League debut.

- BY JOHN CROSS

The Arsenal whizz-kid is the talk of English football, introducing himself on the biggest stage when he made his first-team debut against Leeds on Saturday.

Dowman (below) was just 15 and 234 days old and his debut brought back some amazing memories for ex-England captain Rooney, who was the Premier League's original boy wonder.

Rooney, now 39, scored a sensational goal for Everton against Arsenal back in October 2002 when he was still five days short of his 17th birthday (celebrating below).

Fast forward nearly 23 years and Rooney found himself watching Dowman's debut with his own son Kai, who is 15 and on Manchester United's books. He scored his first goal for their under-18s on Saturday - and that brought it all home.

Rooney, on his own BBC podcast, said: “I was sat there with my son and my son is older than him!

“I watched Kai play with the under-18s, got his first goal which is, again, three years above and that's a great achievement.