Wayne Rooney defeats former agent in £4.3 million lawsuit

Wayne Rooney today defeated attempts to sue him for £4.3 million.

The Manchester United and England striker was accused of withholding commission on multi-million pound deals brokered by sports management firm Proactive, who used to represent him.

Rooney made no payments after football agent Paul Stretford, a director and founder of Proactive, left the firm in acrimony in October 2008, taking with him their star client.

Rooney, 24, who is currently on holiday in Barbados, was signed by Stretford for Proactive in 2002 as the teenage prodigy became the hottest property in football.

Rooney, then 17, went from £80-a-week Everton trainee living in his parent's council house in Croxteth, Liverpool, to household name soccer star with multi-million sponsorship deals with the likes of Nike and Coca-Cola.

Proactive had argued that, as such contracts for Rooney and his wife Coleen were brokered by Stretford while he was still at the firm, they were still due the 20% commission - amounting to £4.3 million.

Today Judge Brendan Hegarty QC, who postponed his ruling at Manchester Mercantile Court until after the World Cup, handed down his judgment.

The judge said the original contract Rooney signed with Proactive amounted to a "restraint of trade" as it was up to eight years long when the Football Association recommended a maximum of two years.