Wayne Rooney has said that he has held discussions with multiple Derby County players in recent weeks and that those talks have been positive, with many of them wanting to stay for next season.

The Rams go into the summer planning for a stint in Sky Bet League One and will hope that they are going to be able to draw a line under the mess that has been grabbing all the headlines off of the pitch this year.

On the pitch, meanwhile, there has been far more positive storylines, even if they are going down, with a number of young players stepping up to the mark when called upon, and Rooney appears hopeful that a number of them are going to be staying around:

The Verdict

It's obviously pretty likely that we're going to see some players leaving Derby at the end of this season and in the summer but Rooney sounds pretty upbeat over his chances of keeping a number of them within the club.

A lot of them will surely feel staying at Derby remains their best chance of playing regular football next season and if they can be part of a side that begins to rebuild the club they will surely go down as real fan favourites.