The January wages of Derby County's players have already been paid in full, meaning that Wayne Rooney can press on in the final few days of the transfer window for new players, per The Athletic.

A failure by the club to pay all players their full salaries for the month of December saw the Rams plunged into a transfer embargo earlier this month, amid growing uncertainty that a takeover from Derventio Holdings was going to happen.

There was a genuine threat of administration if the deal continued to be held up according to the Telegraph's John Percy, but funding arrived within the next week to pay the players their outstanding wages and stave off the embargo.

There was a chance that the embargo being lifted would be brief, with the January wages needing to be paid not long after December's were settled, but there's been no issues and everyone has been paid in full and on-time.

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But where does this leave County in regards to the potential takeover?

The Athletic report that the club remain optimistic that Sheikh Khaled of the Abu Dhabi royal family will complete the deal in the near future, and ideally it would be done over the weekend if Rooney is to get in his first-choice targets on deadline day.

But that may not be possible now in a saga that has dragged on far too long, but wages being paid is a positive step and County fans can hopefully look forward to some positive deadline day drama on Monday.

The Verdict

There hasn't been many specific names linked with transferring to Pride Park in the last few days of the window, but Rooney and his team will be working very hard behind the scenes to bring players in.

Huddersfield's Alex Pritchard was wanted in the deal that took Duane Holmes back to West Yorkshire this week, but he was reportedly put off by the unpaid wages fiasco.

That could be re-visited now the club look a bit more financially secure in the short-term, and you'd imagine that a striker and some new defenders are also on the agenda - Derby's starting line-up could look a bit different at the end of February 1.