He has scored in more than half of his appearances for his side, and he found the net on his debut while wearing the red shirt of his current club.
His name is Rooney.
No, not that one.
The “other” Rooney.
This guy’s club sit top of their league, five points clear of their nearest challengers.
This is Adam Rooney, Aberdeen’s star striker, who is significantly less prominent than his namesake who plies his trade for Manchester United, south of the border.
They are no relation, by the way.
And this Rooney has been enjoying much more success in front of goal recently.
While the English Rooney has struggled to get into the goal-scoring column in the league for United, his Irish counterpart seemingly is scoring for fun in Scotland.
Last season’s Scottish Premiership top scorer has become the toast of the fans at Pittodrie in the country’s north-east, helping them lift their first trophy, the League Cup, in 2013/14 and to second place in the league last season, their best position since 1993/94.
Rooney joined the club from Oldham Athletic in January 2014, and he instantly became a hit with Aberdeen supporters by scoring five goals in his first six appearances. He then struck the decisive penalty to defeat his former club, Inverness Caledonian Thistle, in that League Cup final.
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He has not stopped scoring since. Eighteen goals last season took him to top spot in the Premiership, and he has started this season where he left off.
He has scored six goals in the league already, including a penalty in the 2-1 win against reigning champions Celtic last Saturday that took Aberdeen five points clear of the Glasgow club.
There is much more to Rooney’s game than just putting the ball in the net, however.
This 27-year-old Dubliner has set up plenty of goals, with teammates Niall McGinn, Peter Pawlett and newest front-line recruit Kenny McLean all gratefully accepting the gifts from this selfless player.
He also tracks back and is never afraid to put in the odd hard tackle.
Rooney has caught the attention of Republic of Ireland manager Martin O’Neill, who named him in the squad for the Euro 2016 qualifiers against Gibraltar and Georgia earlier this month.
He was also included in the provisional 40-man squad for matches against Poland and Germany next month.
Rooney did not make it on to the pitch this month, but on this form it will not be long before he gets his first cap. Following Tuesday’s 1-0 victory over Hamilton — guess who scored the winner — Aberdeen have a 100 per cent record in the league, with seven wins from as many matches.
They have a few observers wondering if they can go one better and win a Premiership title that Celtic were expected to claim, once more, at a canter.
Derek McInnes’s men finished 11 points behind the champions last time out, partly due to losing all four meetings with Celtic. But with one win against their rivals already, it is the champions who are playing catch-up.
The season is not beyond its formative stages, but it is Celtic who are wondering where the points will come from, not Aberdeen, and not the free-scoring “other” Rooney.
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