ONE-TIME Leeds star Tony Yeboah was an unlikely first hero for Wayne Rooney.
And his school mates still call him after another Leeds striker.
Rooney burst on to the scene with boyhood club Everton as a teenager in the early 2000s.
England's all-time record goal-scorer has inspired a generation of kids to try to replicate his heroics.
But the ex-Everton and Manchester United star has revealed he wanted to be Leeds icon Yeboah in his youth.
Despite that, to his pals he was more like former Chelsea and Leeds striker Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink.
Rooney revealed: “I used to pretend to be Tony Yeboah after he scored the volleys against Liverpool and Wimbledon.
Most read in Football
BLOCK PARTY 
Man Utd announce £20m-a-year training kit sponsor with Tezos
Antonio hits back at calls for team-mate Zouma to be sacked
West Ham's Kurt Zouma KICKS & slaps his pet cat in horrific video
West Ham lose ANOTHER sponsor as backlash grows over Zouma's vile cat video
FREE BETS: GET OVER £2,000 IN NEW CUSTOMER DEALS
“Still to this day all my friends in Liverpool call me Jimmy – after Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink.
“I scored a goal which was in the local newspaper when I was a kid years ago and Jimmy Floyd used to do a cartwheel.
“Everyone – my cousins and friends – all of them from home still call me Jimmy.”
⚽ Read our Transfer News Live blog for the very latest rumours, gossip and done deals
Source: Read Full Article