Wayne Rooney has found his new job as a manager, moving back to DC where he played in 2018 and 2019.

Rooney’s first steps into management with Derby followed that spell in the MLS, and now he’s returning after making some impressive moves with a struggling Derby County.

Derby were relegated last season due to a huge points deduction, a transfer embargo and their financial troubles. Trying to help Derby avoid relegation was possibly one of the toughest jobs in English football last season. But despite failing to survive, most would say Rooney’s work was a job well done. Rooney even said that if he did manage to help Derby survive, it would have been an achievement that would eclipse everything he achieved as a player at Man Utd.

Rooney’s commitment couldn’t be questioned and he even paid for Derby’s away day travel costs out of his own pocket while they were experiencing such bad financial problems.

Now he has a new challenge helping DC United, who lost 7-0 last Friday and are bottom of the table with 18 points in 19 games. 

It’s super interesting to see how Rooney handled the Derby job so well while the club was experiencing such a turbulent time off the field. Does this sound like something we have seen before? Yes, because Rooney was one of those players who was in control of his emotions regardless of what type of importance the game had.

He was always very smart as a football player on the pitch and knew how to drop short to pick the ball up or go long. I expect him to teach this to his new team too, as it’s what made him so difficult to pick up because he was so smart in reading the situations and the game, that he always mixed with his great energy.

Knowing this I would love to see that being drilled into his players so he can use his game intelligence to achieve success at DC. It’s not always easy to do as an ex-pro player but I expect him to pick players that he trusts and can give the responsibility to think and influence the game.

It is never going to be easy because the expectations are always going to be high for Rooney, but that is why it will always be a challenging job of highs and lows.

He is in a country that now has more eyes and ears for football so this is a perfect time for him to achieve something great. #mmlove