Former Derby County manager Wayne Rooney has now revealed which player was most important during his spell at the club.
Although Wayne Rooney is lambasted for his recent disastrous spell at Birmingham City, he did a decent job at Derby County under difficult circumstances.
Rooney retired as a player at Derby and took on the managerial role in January 2021. At this point, the club were glued to the foot of the Championship table and he was required to save them.
The former Manchester United star inherited a squad drained of confidence and although he made a bright start to his tenure, they were very nearly relegated in the 2020/21 campaign, surviving by a single point on the final day.
In the following campaign, Derby entered administration and were handed a 12-point deduction before seeing a further nine points taken away for breaching Profit and Sustainability regulations in November.
This gave Rooney zero chance of keeping the Rams afloat for a second season running as they were relegated to League One, although they would have finished in 17th without the deductions.
Reflecting on his time at the club, the 38-year-old has named the player who was most important in that campaign, and it may come as a surprise to some.
Wayne Rooney names goalkeeper Ryan Allsop as most important player
In a squad that boasted the likes of Tom Lawrence and Krystian Bielik, Rooney named goalkeeper Ryan Allsop as his most important player and explained the importance of the position.
Speaking on the Stick To Football podcast, Rooney said: “As much as, in my career, I hate goalkeepers, always have, goalkeeper is the most important player for how you want to play.
“At Derby, we brought in Ryan Allsop and he was brilliant; he calms everything down and he was almost the playmaker.”
In the modern day, it’s so important to have a goalkeeper who is excellent with the ball at his feet and that’s what Allsop was for Derby.
Despite operating under a backdrop of uncertainty, the former Rams shot-stopper was calm in possession and was crucial to how they built up from the back.
Allsop, who is currently starring in Hull’s play-off chasing campaign, has continued to show why he’s one of the best goalkeepers in the division with the ball at his feet.
Although he sometimes makes errors, the 31-year-old still boasts a 96% pass completion in his own half and plays 3.9 accurate long balls per game.
The above statistics reinforce Rooney’s point about Allsop, and why he was a player that was revered during his time at Pride Park.