Player-coach role at Derby impossible to turn down,

WAYNE Rooney said he wants to help Derby “achieve their goals” in the years ahead as he admitted that the opportunity to work with manager Phillip Cocu had drawn him to the Championship club.

The 33-year-old former England international has signed an 18-month contract with the Rams as a player-coach and will switch to the Pride Park side after seeing out the remainder of the 2019 Major League Soccer season with DC United.

Upon his unveiling, Rooney said: “The opportunity to come back to England and play, but also to take up a coaching role with the club and work under Phillip, was too great for me to turn down.

“I’m delighted to be back there and I’m looking forward to being back in January to help the team push for promotion.”

Rooney added that, while the coaching opportunity was important to him, he still feels he has plenty to offer on the pitch.

“Firstly, I’m a player,” he said. “I feel I’ve got a lot of quality I can bring to the squad.

“First and foremost I’m coming to play and to help the team, and second, I want to learn off Phillip and his staff, to gain experience for when I do stop playing and go on to that next step.”

He admitted, however, that he may not be able to play every game for Derby given the intensity of the Championship season.

“Football is what I have done my whole life and what I love,” he said. “I will keep playing until my body says I can’t anymore.

“I’m a player who knows their body. I’m experienced enough to know if I need to sit out a game. But I feel good. I’ve played the whole season in the States.”

Rooney said he was continuing to work on gaining his coaching qualifications, with a representative of the FA due to travel out to the US next week as he progresses to the next stage.

Several of Rooney’s former England team-mates, such as ex-Derby boss Frank Lampard and Steven Gerrard, have already begun their management careers, but Rooney said that was not the key to his own decision to pursue a similar path.

“It’s great to see them going into management but it’s not just about what they’re doing now,” he said. “This is something I always had as an ambition. It’s great these young English managers are getting opportunities.

“Over the last 15 or 20 years we’ve not seen so many great ex-England players coming through, so it’s great to see them doing that. It’s something I always wanted to do when the time is right.”