Neymar offered to 3 clubs except Barcelona, Manchester United step up Christian Eriksen pursuit and more: Transfer Roundup, 6 August 2019

By Shambhu Ajith

Modified Dec 20, 2019 12:23 GMT

Wayne Rooney set to join Derby County as a player-coach

Sky Sports' reliable Rob Dorsett has confirmed that Wayne Rooney is all set to join Derby County as a player-coach in January. Rooney reportedly arrived at Derby County's training ground today and Dorsett was there to report.

"He came in through a back entrance that's rarely used but my sources are telling me he is here with his representatives to try and thrash out a deal. He flew in from Washington overnight and it's clear to me that Derby are confident they've got their man.

"I'm being told the deal will see Wayne Rooney start as player-coach in January. He wants to go and finish the season with DC United. So while it's moving quickly, this move will happen in January."

Earlier, Derby County owner Mel Morris had confirmed that the club was trying to rope in Rooney. He said,

"It's literally only been a couple of days in the offing."

"The starting point was that we understood he was keen to return to the UK and we decided to see if we could do something off the back of that.

"It's never done until it's done and obviously we are very focused and keen to get this over the line."

About the author

Shambhu is a European and international football journalist at Sportskeeda who focuses on previews, listicles and news articles. An ardent Manchester United supporter since before his teenage years, he started following the Red Devils by age 10 watching MUTV on television. Shambhu is also a highly-revered rapper and a playback singer on Spotify, having a whopping 1 million monthly listeners.

For his articles, Shambhu believes in triple-checking every piece of information, relying on trusted websites like Transfermarkt and Opta, and staying away from speculative publications. He believes that his law degree helped him to be more articulate and meticulous with his content and one of his core strengths is seamlessly involving emotion in his write-ups owing to the love for the sport. For Sportskeeda, has done exclusive interviews with Spanish legends Gaizka Mendieta and Fernando Morientes so far, and his articles boast of a huge readership of close to 50 million.

Shambhu's favorite footballer is Lionel Messi, and the Argentine attaining glory in 2022 is his favorite FIFA World Cup moment. He believes only Kylian Mbappe and Erling Haaland could replicate Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo's rivalry in the years to come. His favorite manager is Sir Alex Ferguson due to the Scot's unmatched longevity at the top.

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Edited by Arvind Sriram