Two days after registering his 200th Premier League goal, England's all-time leading goalscorer Wayne Rooney announced his retirement from international football.
Spanning 2003 to 2016, Rooney scored 53 goals in 119 appearances for his country, making his senior international debut in February 2003 aged 17, and featuring in the 2006, 2010 and 2014 World Cups.
England's youngest ever goalscorer, Rooney netted four times in Euro 2004, but he did not score at a World Cup until his third attempt - eventually registering against Uruguay in the 2014 competition.
There is no question that Rooney's England career has had its highs and lows, but any player retiring from international duty as their country's all-time record goalscorer and second most-capped player should be quite content with their achievements.
Rooney has won the England Player of the Year on four separate occasions - 2008, 2009, 2014 and 2015 - although there is a sense of uncertainty when it comes to determining whether the forward has ever really fulfilled his potential.
Rooney has always had more respect from former players than he has enjoyed from England supporters, and while some of the criticism could potentially be justified, there is something uncomfortable about much of the discontent that has been sent his way.
The Everton forward was overlooked by England boss Gareth Southgate for the matches against Scotland and France in June, and he has not actually represented the Three Lions since last November's 3-0 success over Scotland at Wembley.
His struggles at Manchester United last season were supposed to be the end of Rooney, with offers from China and North America arriving to boost his bank balance, rather than to help him achieve more in the game, and keep his foot in the England door.
Two goals in two Premier League matches for Everton at the start of the new campaign were enough to convince Southgate of his worth, and the England boss wanted Rooney in his squad for the upcoming 2018 World Cup qualifiers against Malta and Slovakia next month.
Rooney, however, revealed that he would be making himself unavailable for selection, ensuring that he would not feature at the 2018 World Cup.
"It was great Gareth Southgate called me this week to tell me he wanted me back in the England squad for the upcoming matches. I really appreciated that," began Rooney's statement.
"However, having already thought long and hard, I told Gareth that I had now decided to retire for good from international football."
It has been a period of big decisions for Rooney - leaving United to return to Everton, and now stepping away from a long and successful international career.
Successful in terms of goals at least, but not silverware. That said, he carried England on so many occasions, often performing out of position, and there has rarely been proof that the Three Lions were better without the services of their now former captain.
Rooney was only six caps from Peter Shilton's international record of 125, and the Everton forward had revealed that he would step away from the limelight following the conclusion of the World Cup in Russia.
His involvement would likely have been on a bit-part basis, however, which is exactly the reason why he left United in the summer. Rooney wanted the announcement to be on his terms, rather than being hounded out in the build-up to Russia.
"Realistically I know myself that Russia will be my last opportunity to do anything with England. Hopefully I can end my time with England on a high. My mind is made up … Russia will be my last tournament," said Rooney last August. Football has a short memory, however, and the decision to stand down from international duty is excellent news for an Everton team that have started the new Premier League campaign with two impressive performances.
Rooney actually turned down the chance to represent Republic of Ireland at the age of 16 having been eligible through his grandmother. He described himself as 'England through and through' upon rejecting the opportunity, and little over one year later he became England's youngest ever player at the age of 17 years and 111 days.
Had things turned out differently, Rooney might well have inspired England to success at Euro 2004. He was unplayable in that competition, but an injury in the quarter-finals against hosts Portugal robbed him of what was an incredible opportunity to lead the nation to silverware.
Then there was the race to be fit for the 2006 World Cup. He made it, but was never in the required shape to help England make a success of that competition. There was more controversy at the 2010 World Cup, when Rooney criticised the Three Lions supporters for booing their team in the group stages.
A quarter-final exit from Euro 2012, meanwhile, led to then England boss Fabio Capello claiming that Rooney "only plays well in Manchester". The 2014 World Cup brought Rooney's first ever goal in the prestigious competition, but England finished bottom of their group, and there was to be more embarrassment at Euro 2016 as Roy Hodgson's side were eliminated in the round of 16 by Iceland.
Rooney scored 30 times during qualification campaigns for the European Championships and World Cup, but managed just seven goals in the finals of a major competition.
For everything that he has accomplished, history may well judge Rooney's England career by the fact that he only managed one goal in the biggest international tournament of them all.
It is for that reason that many will deem Rooney's time with England to be unsuccessful, but when taking everything into consideration, it extremely difficult to overlook what one of the nation's finest ever players has achieved.
