Wayne Rooney’s Derby County move follows rich tradition of star players ditching MLS and Chinese Super League

While the likes of Clint Dempsey, Jozy Altidore and DaMarcus Beasley showed players developed in Major League Soccer could thrive in European football, Wayne Rooney is the latest to hope he can show the so-called “retirement league” has not dimmed his skills. The former Manchester United and Everton forward has confirmed he will leave DC United at the end of the MLS season to sign as a player-coach with English Championship side Derby County. He will make the move in January. Rooney is far from the first footballer to move on from the MLS with the hope of still competing. England’s record scorer has said he makes the move “as a player first” and that “it wasn’t just about coming home” to England. He has signed an 18-month deal with the Rams. Manchester United boosted by Harry Maguire, Aaron Wan-Bissaka and preseason wins but questions remain for Ole Gunnar Solskjaer It was just a year ago that Rooney said he would not follow in the footsteps of other veteran footballers in moving back to Europe on loan during the MLS off-season and, true to his word, he has opted for a permanent move from DC. That’s a contrast to Thierry Henry, who left the New York Red Bulls on loan in 2012, midway into his four seasons at the club. The striker returned to former club Arsenal to help them alleviate a lack of goalscorers. Loans have been a large part of players leaving MLS for other leagues, largely because the US off-season is when European football is in full flow. Landon Donovan made a career out of that, swapping the MLS for spells with Bayern Munich and Everton during his years with the LA Galaxy. However, Rooney will be 34 by the time he pitches up at Pride Park and presumably is looking to end his career with the club. Will Wayne Rooney make a good manager one day? pic.twitter.com/M92SKnqWzg — Goal (@goal) August 7, 2019 That’s not necessarily going to be the case, based on the example of Jermain Defoe. Rooney’s sometime England strike partner swapped Toronto FC for Sunderland and then moved on to Bournemouth. The 36-year-old has since been loaned to Glasgow Rangers. His former England international teammate Ashley Cole paved the way for Rooney when the full back left the LA Galaxy to join up with former Chelsea and England teammate Frank Lampard at Derby County. Cole was released after the club’s play-off heartache last season. Indeed, Lampard swapped MLS for the English Premier League, albeit without playing a game for New York City. Instead, after signing with the US side, it was announced he was going to sister side Manchester City instead, where he played for a season before heading to New York. Another England midfielder, David Beckham, is probably the most successful player to pivot from the MLS to a major European side. Beckham was at the LA Galaxy, where he enjoyed two loan spells for AC Milan, before signing permanently for Paris Saint-Germain. Beckham won the French league title in his time there before retiring from playing. The NYCFC to Manchester pipeline that was highlighted by Lampard has fast become a fixture. Jack Harrison moved to the US as a teen to kick off his career and ended up at the MLS club before being shipped back to his native Manchester. He is now on loan at Leeds United. US international Mix Diskerud moved from European football to New York City before being moved on to Manchester City. Since then he has been loaned to Sweden’s IFK Gothenburg and K-League side Ulsan Hyundai. He is still only 28. Nigeria striker Obafemi Martins swapped the Seattle Sounders for Shanghai Shenhua in the Chinese Super League, where he won the Chinese FA Cup before suffering a horror leg break. Since being let go last summer, Martins has been without a club. Tim Cahill was another former English Premier League star who swapped MLS for the CSL. The Australia midfielder also went to Shanghai Shenhua before moving on to Hangzhou Greentown. A stint in India followed before Cahill hung up his heading skills this summer. Robbie Keane added to his air miles by heading for India from LA Galaxy. David Villa went even further east when he swapped New York City FC for J. League side Vissel Kobe, where he reunited with former Spain and Barcelona teammate Andres Iniesta. Former Arsenal midfielder Freddie Ljungberg did similar when he left the Seattle Sounders but stopped off for seven games with Scottish Premier League giants Celtic before making his way to Shimizu S-Pulse in Japan. With World Cup finalist Nigel de Jong pivoting from LA Galaxy to Turkish side Galatasaray and his former teammate Giovani dos Santos going from LA to Mexico’s Club America, the evidence is there that the football world is getting ever smaller. Gone are the days where a move to China or the States was the end of a career and an admission of defeat at the elite level. What’s also for sure is that Rooney won’t be the last player to make such a comeback.