It may have been a while since Wayne Rooney had reason to celebrate – but that’s not stopped the Manchester United player from amassing more Twitter followers than any other UK athlete.
The 28-year-old, who has likely been twiddling his thumbs since picking up a three-game ban, has reached the magic milestone of 10million followers.
He may let his boots do the talking for the most part, having posted only 1,490 times since making his debut in April 2011, and needed some time to get used to it after his first memorable tweet.
Hi rio do u want picking up in the morning pal
— Wayne Rooney (@WayneRooney) April 23, 2011
But now he has perfected the art of tweeting and he thanked his loyal following for the support, even offering one lucky fan the chance to win one of his shirts.
Reached 10 million followers! Thanks to all my fans around the world. RT to have chance of winning one of my match worn #10 @ManUtd shirts!
— Wayne Rooney (@WayneRooney) October 6, 2014
However, although the number of his followers may be able to fill the capacity of Old Trafford 132 times, much like United he is left languishing down the table compared to other global sporting greats.
Currently the Manchester United and England captain sits sixth on the list of sports athletes from around the world with the most followers.
Former United teammate Cristiano Ronaldo tops the table on 30.3million with a comfortable lead over fellow footballer Kaka (21million) and basketball star LeBron James (15.2million).
It’s no better for Rooney on the list of most-followed UK individuals either as he occupies ninth place, even half a million followers behind Simon Cowell in eighth.
One Direction star Harry Styles leads the way with 22.1million followers, pursued by Adele and fellow band member Liam Payne with 21million and 18million respectively.
However, all these pale in comparison to Twitter’s leading most-followed user, Katy Perry, who has a grand total of more than 58million followers.
Image courtesy of Manchester United, via YouTube, with thanks
