Wayne Rooney is old news on young legs these days. The 17-year-old was merely his scintillating self on Saturday, running the experienced Craig Short ragged and tormenting the more youthful Martin Taylor for good measure.
He checked his run, contorted his body and hammered against a post to trigger Lee Carsley's Everton equaliser, then flicked on and speared the winner for himself 13 minutes later.
Even once he had tired, he still conjured a pair of stupendous passes which should have prompted a third Everton goal. Nothing he does comes as a surprise any more, though everything he whips up leaves his markers flummoxed.
Not that Everton would share much enthusiasm for fast-tracking him to the England international set-up as has been suggested in some quarters.
"It's not my position to ask Sven (Goran Eriksson) to leave Wayne alone, but at the moment it would be premature in my eyes to see it happen now," said his club manager David Moyes, who has already discussed Rooney's startling progress with Eriksson this season.
"We have got to be careful. If we are seeing this come the end of the season, with Wayne having played 15 to 20 games, maybe there would be a case for saying: 'Yes, let's have a look with England.' But at the moment he hasn't even had an under-21 game yet.
"On the field it's difficult to criticise the things he does. It's all so natural to him. He's comfortable, does things in a subconscious way and has the ability to put the fear of death into people when he gets at them. I find myself thinking 'Wow' at what he does, but if England are to have such a wonderful talent, why shouldn't it be everybody's responsibility to help him?"
Inevitably, more and more people are coming out of the woodwork apparently attempting to do just that. Negotiations between the teenager's new agent Paul Stretford and the club's chief executive Michael Dunford - a former shareholder in Stretford's Proactive Sports Agency - should be completed this week over Rooney's first professional contract, a five-year deal to propel his wages from the current £90 to around £5,000-a-week plus hefty bonuses.
There are eight Everton players on Stretford's books, a pair of whom own shares in the company. The visiting manager Graeme Souness is another shareholder. Andy Cole, Blackburn's early goalscorer from the excellent David Thompson's free-kick and another Proactive client, made a point of shaking Rooney's hand before kick-off as if to welcome him to the fold.
"He has so many mistakes to make on and off the pitch, and we have to be careful of what outside influences try and distract him," added Moyes, whose delight at the wunderkind's progress is sensibly tinged with an awareness of the potential pitfalls that lie ahead.
"We are effectively trying to take his adolescence away from him, asking him not to do the things we have all done ourselves. But I don't think he will be swayed by all the adulation. I would be the first to slap him round the ears if I thought he was getting big-headed, though he'd probably just hit me back. He doesn't have a big ego, he's down-to-earth and would love to be left alone. You have to let him grow up a little bit."
Eriksson might do well to heed such advice.
Guardian Service
EVERTON: Wright, Hibbert (Pistone 90), Yobo, Stubbs, Unsworth, Carsley, Tie Li (Weir 64), Gravesen, Naysmith, Campbell, Rooney (Radzinski 90). Subs Not Used: Simonsen, Gemmill. Booked: Hibbert. Goals: Carsley 12, Rooney 25.
BLACKBURN: Friedel, Neill, Short, Taylor, McEveley (Gillespie 45), Thompson, Flitcroft (Johansson 76), Tugay, Duff, Cole, Yorke. Subs Not Used: Kelly, Ostenstad, Danns. Sent Off: Neill (74). Booked: Neill, Gillespie. Goals: Cole 6.
Referee: G Barber (Hertfordshire).
