Derby County manager Wayne Rooney has insisted that the Rams will not be looking to sell players off in January and instead he wants to be adding to his squad if he can do.

The Rams are in a perilous position at the moment with the club having been placed in administration. A 12 points deduction has been placed on Derby as a result of that and that has seen them drop down to the bottom of the league with the potential for a further deduction to come.

Derby also remain under a transfer embargo and that was always going to make it difficult for Rooney to add to his threadbare squad in the winter window.

Love the EFL? Want to share your opinions about your club? Get involved by subscribing to FLW TV on Youtube HERE!

However, the sense has been that since the Rams have entered into administration they might even be forced to sell off one or two key assets in their playing squad to raise funds.

Speaking to Derbyshire Live though, Rooney has insisted that he is looking to keep hold of all of his players and even strengthen his squad in the January transfer window. While he also revealed some clubs have already attempted to get in touch with players regarding potential moves.

"We are not looking at selling players in January, we are looking at keeping players and trying to improve the squad, if we can.

"I know the vultures out there have been trying to get in touch over players. That's normal, they will be looking at trying to get players out on the cheap.

"We are not looking to sell, we are looking to build on what we have got and try and improve the squad.

"Depending on where the points deduction is at, January could be very important for us to strengthen."

The verdict

It seems like it could be very difficult for Derby in January and even though Rooney wants to keep hold of all of his playing squad, there might come a point where the club has to sell if they receive decent offers given their financial situation.

However, there is still plenty of time left until January and Rooney’s hope seems to be that the club will be taken over before then. If that happens then they might potentially be able to protect their key assets and maybe even strengthen the squad.

There are a number of talented players within Derby’s squad and it is no surprise to see that other sides have already been circling their players given they have now entered into administration.

From Rooney’s perspective, you can see why he feels they can not afford to lose any key players given the size of the squad he has available and the task that is in front of them to try and survive the drop.