Wayne Rooney another English legend taking the leap to coaching

Wayne Rooney will finish 2019 with D.C. United and then head to Derby to become a player-coach. He joins his former England teammates in the coaching world.

D.C. United striker Wayne Rooney has agreed to an initial 18-month contract to become a player-coach at EFL Championship side Derby County. He will return to England in January of 2020 after he finishes the 2019 MLS season in D.C. The 33-year old had signed a contract with D.C. till 2021 but reports have suggested that Rooney’s wife Coleen was homesick and Rooney said in a statement “While the decision to move home was a tough one, family is everything to us and we make this change to be closer to the ones we love back in England,”

Rooney’s MLS career will end after just two seasons with D.C. and the end of this season will be crucial for the franchise. D.C. United is among the contenders in the Eastern Conference and sits in fourth place with Rooney leading the team with 11 goals. Rooney’s side has nine games left in the regular season before the playoffs begin on October 19th and with this recent news, D.C. will go full throttle in this final season with Rooney and hope to win their first MLS Cup since 2004.

As for the future of Wayne Rooney, it’s very intriguing. The former Everton and Man United star will be 34 when he arrives at Derby in the middle of this European season and has a chance to help the team in two ways. First off, he has still got it as a goal scorer and Derby is among the teams in the EFL Championship that can compete for promotion to the Premier League, something the team hasn’t done since 2007-08. So if Derby sees themselves in the top-six halfway through the season, the addition of Rooney’s goalscoring can get them to the top flight.

The second way Rooney can help is through coaching. A legendary career doesn’t always translate to great coaching but Rooney’s breadth of experience in the EPL is something that can make him a unique teacher and leader for Derby. Rooney seems to have had the coaching step already in his mind for a while as he said in his statement “The opportunity to go back home and start the next step of my career in coaching was the factor that made my mind up.”

Derby has experimented with former stars before as managers. Last season, legendary English midfielder Frank Lampard managed Derby to the Championship Play-Off Final where they just missed out on promotion. Phil Neville manages the England women’s side who finished fourth at the World Cup and this season, Derby’s head man is former Dutch superstar Philip Cocu who left Turkish side Fenerbahce to go to England. The combo of Cocu and Rooney gives the Rams a big competitive edge in England’s second division and will put Rams fans in the seats when the 2020s begin.

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But where can Rooney go after the season ends in the Spring of 2020? Lampard got hired by Chelsea and former Liverpool legend Steven Gerrard manages Scottish contenders Rangers. That’s not an omen Rooney will be successful but maybe it’s fate these mid-2000s English legends will be good managers. Rooney’s path could lead him to his boyhood club Everton as a manager one day and if all three grow in the coaching ranks, the England job could become really competitive between the three by the late-2020s and early-2030s.

The England job has been occupied by former players before. Glenn Hoddle and Kevin Keegan managed the Three Lions and current boss Gareth Southgate registered 57 caps for his country.