West Brom dodged Wayne Rooney transfer bullet - it hit Derby County instead | OneFootball

When Wayne Rooney joined Derby County as a player-coach in 2019, the move became despite a last-ditch attempt to attempt to hijack to deal.

When Wayne Rooney joined Derby County as a player-coach in August 2019, it came despite an 11th-hour attempt to hijack the deal from the other side of the Midlands.

When former England and Manchester United star returned from the United States of America at the start of August 2019, it was assumed that his next destination was already known, with there having been widespread interest in signing a player who'd only signed a deal to play Major League Soccer with DC United a year earlier.

It had been widely reported that the former England captain was due to sign for Derby County, but as Rooney touched down at Heathrow Airport the English press started to report that the deal could be hijacked.

West Bromwich Albion had only narrowly missed out on promotion after having finished 4th in the Championship at the end of the previous season, and the suggestion was that they could be set to hijack any Derby deal and take the forward to The Hawthorns.

West Brom held Wayne Rooney transfer interest before Derby County move

It was no surprise that there should be such interest in taking on England's then-record goalscorer, should he be available. Rooney had left Manchester United in the summer of 2017 to return to his boyhood club Everton, but after a season in the Premier League back at Goodison Park, the forward was taken to the USA to sign for MLS outfit DC United.

The move to MLS proved to be a good one for Rooney himself. Over the next two seasons, he'd make 48 MLS appearances for the Washington-based club, scoring 23 goals.

At the end of their 2018 season, he was named in their Best XI team for the season, with the League saying: "Arriving to MLS after a midseason transfer, Rooney pushed DC United from the bottom of the league to fourth place in the Eastern Conference behind 12 goals and seven assists in 20 games played, helping the club to a 12-4-4 record in matches he played during the regular season."

But even though it had been expected that Rooney would be flying back to sign a contract with Derby County after he agreed a termination of the last two years of his contract with DC United, one report suggested that there could yet be a surprise ending to the story when The Daily Mail reported that, "West Bromwich Albion have launched an 11th-hour bid to snatch Wayne Rooney from the clutches of Derby County."

The Mail reported that, "West Brom sporting director Luke Dowling has contacted Rooney's representatives and is exploring the possibility of mounting a rival bid to take the 33-year-old to the Hawthorns and link up with Slaven Bilic", even though both Derby County and Burnley had already been alerted to his potential availability, with terms at Pride Park already having been agreed.

But the audacious swoop never ended up happening, and by the afternoon of the 6th August Derby were confirming the signing of Rooney as a player-coach.

By the end of the 2019-20 season, West Bromwich Albion had an answer to the question of whether they'd dodged a potential bullet in missing out on Wayne Rooney. They were promoted to the Premier League in second place in the table, finishing two points ahead of Brentford and Fulham.

They led the Championship table for much of the season, with only a disappointing run of three points - and no wins - from their last four games costing them the title. Having spent eight of the previous ten years in the Premier League flight, they felt as though they were returning to their rightful place.

But if Derby signed Rooney hoping that he would power them back to the Premier League as well, they ended up disappointed. Derby had a very slow start to the season and by Christmas they were in 17th place in the table. They rallied in the second half of the season, but could still only finish in 10th place in the table, with the financial problems caused by the club's overspending coming back to haunt them.

The season started without Rooney in the team, as it had been agreed that he would finish the 2019 MLS season with DC United. Installed immediately as captain, he finally made his debut for them in January 2020 and scored five goals in twenty games to help their revival and push up throughout the second half of that season.

When Derby started the 2020-21 season slowly, it was enough to cost head coach Philippe Cocu his job. Rooney was initially appointed as part of a four-man team to run first-team affairs, and on the 26th November he was appointed as their player-manager, which essentially ended his playing career. He confirmed his retirement from playing in January 2021.

As West Bromwich Albion sped to promotion in 2020, they may have been forgiven for breathing a sigh of relief at their attempted hijacking of the signing having failed, but because Rooney didn't have anything to offer as a player; he clearly did, as he demonstrated throughout the second half of that 2019-20 season. And his star was clearly fading as a player by 2019. Had Rooney gone to Derby and they'd got promoted, there are no guarantees that he would have been up to Premier League football.

Bringing in a player of Wayne Rooney's stature is a gamble for any football club, and not just a financial one. Balancing a playing squad can be a tricky business, and bringing in an expensive former England star could have a destabilising effect on the wrong changing room. As things turned out, West Bromwich Albion did just fine in 2019-20 without the former England star among their ranks.