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Derby County have enjoyed a largely mixed start to their Championship campaign under the stewardship of their newly installed manager Phillip Cocu.
The former PSV Eindhoven boss has brought in six new additions to complement his existing squad at Pride Park this season, however most County fans will be relishing the January arrival of a Premier League legend, with former Manchester United striker Wayne Rooney set to join the club from MLS outfit DC United on an initial 18-month contract, which will also include the option of further year.
Rooney will bring huge experience to a Derby squad who will still be reeling from the loss of their influential captain Richard Keogh through injury, with the former England captain having appeared in over 700 club career games, scoring over 300 goals and assisting over 100 in what has been a glittering career for the former Everton youth product.
In addition to his impressive numbers, Rooney is also an experienced winner, with the 33-year-old having won one UEFA Champions League, five Premier League titles, one FA Cup, four League Cups, five Community Shields, one Europa League and lastly one FIFA Club World Cup, in an astonishing career which has also seen the centre forward make 120 appearances for his country, scoring 53 goals in the process.
Assessing Rooney's present-day performances, it is clear that the veteran forward will bring a large amount of creativity to a Derby side which has been found lacking in that department, with the DC United man having racked up 11 goals and seven assists in 27 games for the Washington DC-based outfit so far this term, underlining that his powers are still as strong as ever.
In addition to his goal-scoring contribution, Rooney will also help to add the ability to hold onto the ball for long periods, thus allowing him to utilise superior passing skills which have seen him register an average of 2.6 key passes per game, whilst also boasting an impressive pass success rate of 77.1%, with the 33-year-old having made an average of 37.8 passes per game, an impressive feat for an out and out centre forward.
Given his clear strengths in possession of the ball, it would be fair to assume that Cocu will look to deploy Rooney in the number ten role in behind the striker of his 4-2-3-1 formation, as this will allow the 33-year-old to lay the ball off to others, shoot from distance and play long balls out wide to the flanks to stretch the opposition.
Lastly, the ex-Manchester United man will also provide genuine quality from set-piece situations, thus adding an extra element to Derby's attacking play, with Rooney more than capable of scoring directly from free kicks, as he has shown on numerous occasions during his time in English football.