It was the great man himself who once dubbed an 18-year-old Wayne Rooney the “white Pele.” Four goals at Euro 2004 – his first major international tournament – were deemed worthy of such lofty, if premature, praise from the Brazil legend.

But it is arguably football’s other “greatest” that bears better comparison to Rooney.

Diego Maradona, robust in physique, volatile of nature and irrepressible of force, more closely resembles the United and England striker than the twinkle-toed Pele.

Likewise, no major nation has been so reliant on one player since Argentina’s World Cup-winning side of 1986.

The question is whether Rooney has the temperament or ability to emulate the Argentine and almost single-handedly – no pun intended – guide England to the summit of world football.

That is the weight of expectation on his shoulders in  South Africa – and whether Fabio Capello would publicly admit it or not: No Rooney, no chance.

England are not a one-man team and nor were Argentina at Mexico ’86. Maradona was supported by the considerable talents of Jorge Valdano and Jorge Burruchaga – but without their captain, the scorer of virtuoso goals in the quarter-final and semi-final, as well as creator of the winning strike in the final – it is hard to imagine they would have progressed beyond the last eight.

Rooney, too, has Steven Gerrard and Frank Lampard – Joe Cole as well – but he is the totem around which England’s hopes revolve, the one player who would be guaranteed a starting berth in any other team competing at the tournament.

Talisman

That is how important he has become to England’s cause. Not just a player with the potential to win matches, like Paul Gascoigne in ’90 or Michael Owen in ’98, but a proven talisman.

Nine goals during England’s World Cup qualifying campaign was evidence enough of his emergence as a striker of the highest quality – but it has been his progress at club level that has propelled him to the heights of Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi as one of the three best players on the planet.

A tally of 34 goals before twisting his ankle at the end of March kept United on course for a fourth successive Premier League title and a third consecutive Champions League final.

Four goals against AC Milan alone, another against Bayern Munich, along with strikes against Arsenal, Liverpool and the winner in the Carling Cup final against Aston Villa were indicative of a player who turns it on when on the biggest stage.

He’s a player capable of settling the most important games. But far from just a big game player, Rooney is more than happy to throw his weight around against the smaller kids in the playground – Portsmouth, Hull, West Ham and Wigan all getting their lunch money pinched by the cock of the school.

Unfortunately for United, their hopes crumbled along with Rooney’s ankle in the Allianz Arena. The 24-year-old didn’t score another goal after picking up the injury, leading to United’s exit from the Champions League and surrender of the title to Chelsea.

And there’s the fear for Capello because there simply is no plan B. The Italian may have potentially England’s greatest ever striker at his disposal, but he has a worse pool of forwards than any of his recent predecessors at a World Cup.

Shame

Take Rooney out of that pool it is almost impossible to see where the goals are going to come from, even if Peter Crouch has made a habit out of scoring against the Andorras, Jamaicas and Macedonias of the world.

The Rooney-Maradona comparison can be taken further when you consider both players’ introduction to the World Cup.

While Rooney burst onto the scene at Euro 2004, his first World Cup came two years later, ending in shame as he was sent off in England’s quarter-final  elimination to Portgual.

Maradona suffered the same fate at Spain 82 when a wild kick out against Brazil’s Joao Batista da Silva. It made Rooney’s “stamp” on Ricardo Carvalho look like a kiss on the cheek.

Maradona regrouped and four years later was lifting the World Cup for Argentina. Likewise, Rooney has improved 10-fold since Germany.

But he himself admits he won’t be able to go down as a great unless he wins the World Cup.

“If you want to be known and remembered in world football, I feel you would have to win a World Cup,” he said. "Obviously there are players like George Best and Cristiano Ronaldo who are geniuses, but personally I feel I have to help England win a World Cup to be considered like that.

“It means there is still a lot I need to win before I can catch up.”

The warning signs are there for Capello. In 2004, England’s hopes crashed as Rooney limped out of the quarter-final clash with Portugal, likewise when he was dismissed against the same opponents in 2006.

If his loss was profound then, it would be nothing compared to now.