Four Derby players on Rooney’s radar for Birmingham City transfer swoop

Former Derby County boss Wayne Rooney is reportedly interested in four Rams players as he begins his tenure at Championship side Birmingham City.

Rooney signed with the Blues on Tuesday after the new owners sacked manager John Eustace even though Birmingham sit in sixth place in the Championship.

Looking ahead to his upcoming January transfer window, the former Manchester United striker is interested in Eiran Cashin, Max Bird, Liam Thompson and Louie Sibley according to TeamTalk.

All four players made significant contributions under Rooney whilst he was Derby boss, with Cashin making his professional debut and Max Bird, Louie Sibley and Liam Thompson breaking into the first team consistently.

Many Derby fans will regard Rooney as somewhat of a hero even though he failed to keep the Rams from relegation. He joined the club in January 2020 as a player but soon took over as manager after Phillip Cocu’s depature in November 2020 when the Rams were bottom of the table.

Rooney guided the Rams to safety in the 2020/21 season and was given the full time managerial job, however his task was made much more difficult the next season when Derby entered administration and were handed 21 points in deductions.

Despite Rooney’s best efforts, the Rams were relegated but given that the former England striker gave Derby a genuine chance of staying up, fans will remeber him fondly.

He joins an exciting Birmingham side who harshly sacked John Eustace even though the Blues were on course for their best season in a long time.

Rooney’s interest in the Derby youngsters is no suprise as they had been attracting interest in the summer. Most notably a deal for Eiran Cashin to join Premier League Brighton fell through on the last day of the season. Furthermore, Midfielder Max Bird also attracted a number of bids from Hull City.

If Birmingham were to pull of these deals, it could leave the Rams somewhat empty in terms of young talent, so Paul Warne will have to dive into the transfer market to look for potential replacements that still give his Derby side every chance of promotion.