World Cup winner Marcel Desailly believes Wayne Rooney has now moved into the group of current world greats. While all the talk has surrounded the personal battle between Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi in Wednesday night's Champions League final in Rome, Rooney's presence has largely been ignored.
However, it is felt that had voting been taken now, the former Everton star would have been close to landing the PFA player of the year prize, with England set to benefit in next month's World Cup qualifiers against Kazakhstan and Andorra.
And Desailly, who won the European Cup with AC Milan as well as the World Cup with France, feels Rooney has deserved the accolade of one of the world's best.
"Rooney is a world class player," said the former Chelsea star.
"He is among the elite, there is no doubt in my mind about that at all.
"The only problem is the England national team have not done anything to confirm it."
Desailly feels Rooney's arrival on the scene as a callow teenager at Euro 2004 has tended to obscure the vast improvements he has made to his game.
Aside from goalscoring and forceful attacking play, Rooney has also learned the art of defending and it is likely he will be asked to provide assistance to Patrice Evra on the United left as the Premier League champions attempt to subdue Messi.
"Wayne came into the game such a long time ago," said Desailly.
"Since then he has shown how good he is, both tactically and technically. "With the goals as well he has shown he is an amazing player. He is top class."
Yet Desailly does not believe Rooney's contribution will be enough to allow United to become the first side to retain the European Cup since it was rebranded as the Champions League.
"For the players it would be something special to retain the Champions League," he said. "You have all that pressure to deal with and have been working all year to get there. "If you look at the two teams, they are both full of exceptionally gifted players.
"But Barcelona have a bit extra. They can hold their shape from the beginning to the end. They are the ones I think will win."
