Rooney appeals more than David Beckham

WAYNE Rooney has overtaken David Beckham to become the English player who is most attractive to potential sponsors, according to a new list.

Beckham may earn many times more than his international team-mate from sponsorship deals but firm Field Fisher Waterhouse, which provides an annual list of the players deemed most desirable by international corporate giants, says the England captain is ‘over-branded’ and rate Rooney’s potential higher, despite recent negative publicity surrounding the teen.

Neither player though matches Arsenal’s French striker Thierry Henry who comes out top of the list, which has been devised by the firm’s head of pricing strategies Michael Stirling, with Rooney next ahead of Real Madrid trio Ronaldo, Beckham and Zinedine Zidane.

Stirling said: “We advise the corporates on which players they should go for and try to identify what makes a player the hottest property.

“It is a lot more than performance on the pitch, it is about how well the ordinary person on the street recognises them, how charismatic they are, their global appeal, even how they dress.

“Thierry Henry is the hottest property right now - he looks great, he’s the right age, he plays in a sexy position and he has everything.

“At first we were not sure about Rooney but there has been so much interest in him that he has to be included high in the top five.

“Beckham has certainly been top in the past but we feel now that he is over-branded and out of favour.”

Beckham is the player with the most lucrative sponsorship deals.