Wayne Rooney set sights on Premier League with Birmingham

Wayne Rooney has emphasised how much he is relishing the challenge he has taken on as boss of a Birmingham outfit with sights very much set on the Premier League.

The former England captain was appointed as Blues' new manager on Wednesday on a three-and-a-half year deal after leaving DC United last weekend.

That was two days on from the Midlands club, who were taken over by US-based Shelby Companies Limited in July and had seven-time Super Bowl champion Tom Brady become a minority owner the following month, sacking former Republic of Ireland assistant John Eustace while lying sixth in the Championship table.

Rooney returns to management in his home country having previously been in charge at Derby from 2020 to 2022, and he told a press conference at St Andrew’s on Thursday: "I think for myself firstly to get back into English football is great, it’s what I’ve wanted to do.

"I’ve had opportunities over the last four, six weeks at other clubs as well, to do that. But I think since speaking to Birmingham and seeing the ambitions of the club, where they want to go, where they want to get to, it excited me.

"I want to be successful, it’s clear this club wants to be successful, and everything we spoke about really was very similar. It was a really easy decision once I’d spoken to them.

"That’s the goal – for the club, for myself, is to get this club back to the Premier League, of course. I think there’s a lot of work to be done throughout the football club.

"The Premier League is where we want to get to, it’s an ambition of mine, one of the club’s, and we’re putting everything in place to make sure we do that in the near future.

"We’ll push for it (this season), of course. It’s a challenge, and something we’ll certainly push for. I’m