Rooney’s hopes for end to embargo

JANUARY WINDOW CLOSE TO SHUTTING BUT NEW PLAYERS CAN’T BE SIGNED DUE TO FAILURE TO PAY FULL DECEMBER WAGES

WAYNE Rooney has confirmed Derby County are under a transfer embargo and unable to add to their squad as things stand.

Rooney has his transfer targets and says the squad needs strengthening but time is running out in the January window.

The Rams manager said the embargo is a result of some of the players not being paid their wages for December while the protracted takeover of the club has yet to be completed.

“I cannot go into the transfer window at the minute until that’s done,” Rooney said.

“Ideally, the quicker the players get paid the quicker we can move on and the quicker we can look to the players we have identified to bring into the club.”

Asked if the embargo has scuppered potential transfer deals, Rooney replied: “Not scuppered at the minute but the longer it goes on I am sure other teams will be sniffing around players.

“It is not ideal, of course, but that is where we are at and we have to keep working in the background.”

Rooney, who last week signed a two-and-a-half year deal to become manager, was asked whether his decision to become boss would change if the takeover did not go through.

“No, not at all,” he said.

He is also confident the current squad can climb clear of the bottom three should the Rams fail to bring in new signings.

“Listen, ideally I want players in,” he added.

“I think we need players in, whether that is players to start or players to help the squad, we need players in.

“But if we don’t get players in, I believe in my quality to get the best out of the players I have got at this club.

“If they keep playing with that desire, that energy and that attitude (shown in the 1-0 victory over Bournemouth), we will be fine.”

The home win against Bournemouth on Tuesday night lifted Derby out of the Championship’s bottom three.

Rooney explained the thinking behind the tactical switch in the

Rams’ win against the Cherries.

He went with a back three and wing-backs against Bournemouth – a system the Rams played in the draw against the same opponents earlier this season.

George Evans came in for only his second start in three months and formed a back three with Andre Wisdom and Matt Clarke, freeing up Nathan Byrne and Lee Buchanan to play as wing-backs.

“I just felt in the last game (against Rotherham) we didn’t get players close enough to Colin (Kazim-Richards), we left him a bit isolated,”

Rooney said. “Obviously, Bournemouth make it difficult for you with their wing-backs and I just felt if we matched them up, I felt we had more energy in the wing-back areas.

“We also played the box in the middle of the pitch with Jason Knight, Kamil Jozwiak, Graeme Shinnie and Krystian Bielik. I felt we could break if we got the ball into Colin, we could break because Bournemouth do leave themselves a bit exposed with their wing-backs being really high.

“I felt it worked well, we had some good chances and could have maybe scored one or two more, especially in the first half.

“I don’t like a back five, I like it to be a back three and I like the wingbacks, obviously, to help defensively but when we win the ball they are our highest points of attack as wingers. I felt by doing that we could cause them problems.”

Bielik scored the only goal of the game in the 32nd minute and the three points lifted Derby to 21st place, two points above Rotherham United, who are third from bottom, although the Millers have two games in hand.