Wayne Rooney back in the old routine as Everton striker says: 'Some fans thought I wasn't good enough to come back.... It's up to me to prove myself'

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He was everywhere. Outside the stadium, they sold t-shirts to mark the occasion. In the matchday programme, there were 13 separate images of him, not to mention a five page interview.

The story of Wayne Rooney’s return to Everton demanded he be the centre of attention on his second first day but, for all those photographs and the paraphernalia, romance can only last so long. This, Rooney knew, was one of the most important days of his career.

‘There is a lot of expectation,’ Rooney acknowledged. ‘I knew when I came back, I was putting a lot of pressure on myself. There are still some fans who maybe thought that I wasn’t good enough to come back here. I had pressure for 13 years at Manchester United.  

Wayne Rooney is loving life back at Everton after scoring the winner against Stoke City

Rooney's image had been splashed around Goodison Park ahead of his triumphant return

‘I could have gone to another Premier League team and taken my foot off the gas and seen the last few years out. But coming back here? I’ve got to be the best I can. This is the club I grew up supporting, it’s the club I want to play for. I want to do well. But it’s up to me to prove myself.’

And prove himself he did. Nobody should think Everton have signed a player to tear defences apart and step into the shoes of Romelu Lukaku; nobody should think, however, that Ronald Koeman has bought a car from Manchester United that no longer an engine.

‘Football fans aren’t silly,’ Rooney said. ‘Everyone knows I’m not the explosive player who was here when I was 16 to 18. I think I’m a lot cleverer than I was back then. My game has changed and they will see that in the next few weeks. Hopefully the change in my game can help the team.’

If he was everywhere off the pitch, he was everywhere on it too against Stoke. His afternoon started when bumping fists with Sandro Ramirez after 10 seconds to offer encouragement and continued in a similar vein, leading by example and always making a difference.

Whether it was in the 10th minute, when he made two headers in quick succession to clear corners, the 29th minute when luring Joe Allen into making a desperate foul or in the 92nd minute when he ploughed into Darren Fletcher and made a critical tackle, Rooney’s presence was constant. 

Everton's No 10 roars with delight after his goal against Stoke which crowned his return

‘He could have gone to a league where he could have played in second gear but you can’t do that in the Premier League,’ Fletched noted after dusting himself down. ‘These Everton fans are very demanding so he has challenged himself which is fantastic. It is a match made in heaven.’

It was also performance that screeched defiance, a performance that showed his legs have not gone and he can still influence games at this level; Rooney, it should be noted, covered 10.9km, a distance that only Morgan Schneiderlin on Everton’s team surpassed.

The most crucial statistic, though, was the goal. It was a fabulous one, too, that enlivened a game that had been devoid of rhythm, stretching his neck and burying Dominic Calvert-Lewin’s perfect cross with a bullet header.

‘I’ve waited 13 years for that,’ Everton Chairman Bill Kenwright said, as he tried to summon the words outside the newly refurbished boardroom. ‘It was just… glorious.’

Appropriately, it arrived at The Park End, the same end of the stadium where he bamboozled Arsenal goalkeeper David Seaman in October 2002; the noise and the outpouring of emotion that accompanied this one were no less dramatic.

Rooney and Stoke midfielder Darren Fletcher compete for the ball in the middle of the park

There was a sense around the club that Rooney was going to do provide the definitive moment. In one of the final training sessions at Finch Farm last week, he showed his well-being by scoring two goals that, according to one observer, “only he could”.

He will score more goals for Everton, that is for sure, but it is everything else he provides that is just as important; when Calvert-Lewin, a young forward who scored the goal that won the Under-20 World Cup for England, wants to receive a pointer, could he have anyone better to talk to?

When Tom Davies, the enthusiastic 19-year-old who is the great, young local hope, needs to speak to someone about the pressures of playing in a city as fervent as Liverpool, there is nothing Rooney won’t be able to answer. This was a point that Ronald Koeman wanted to make.

‘We did not sign Wayne because he will score 25 goals-a-season,’ said Everton’s manager, who made a crucial switch at half-time, when reverting to a back four from three central defenders and deploying Rooney on the right of midfield were his influence grew.

‘He will bring experience, a winning mentality and cleverness to the team. That is the main reason we signed Wayne. Every time he had possession, it was the right decision and the right choice.’

And they were words that could be applied to his return to Goodison. This could be the first day of his Indian summer.