Wayne Rooney emerges a possible target for Tom Brady’s Birmingham City should manager John Eustace leave the club

Wayne Rooney has emerged as a possible target for Birmingham if John Eustace leaves the club.

The former England captain is currently in charge of Washington club DC United in the United States, but has experience managing English football, thanks to a spell in charge of crisis-torn Derby from 2021 to 2022.

Birmingham – part-owned by former NFL star Tom Brady – has made a strong start to the season under Eustace on its way to international breakthrough.

Eustace has done a good job since taking charge just over a year ago, helping Blues lead a comfortable survival last season despite considerable off-field uncertainty and overseeing a promising start to the new season under the club’s American owners .

As a result, there are no suggestions that Eustace will be fired in his current form.

There are no suggestions that current Birmingham boss John Eustace (above) will be sacked in his current form, having made an excellent start to the season ahead of the international break

The new group in charge includes Brady and the seven-time Super Bowl winner attended the home game against Leeds in August.

Eustace signed a contract until 2025 when he replaced Lee Bowyer in the summer of 2022. He was a target for Swansea in the final season before the club signed Michael Duff. He is also a possible candidate for Rangers if they fire Michael Beale.

Rooney’s deal with D.C. United expires in December and on September 3, he expressed his frustration at the lack of progress in contract talks.

He told the Washington Post, “I am somewhat disappointed and frustrated that there has been no contact in two months.

“We asked about a new deal. We can sit down and talk about it. We haven’t heard back.

“Anyway, I can handle whatever the situation is. I was hoping we would have talked about it anyway. That has not been the case.

NFL legend Tom Brady, right, invested in Birmingham earlier this summer and visited his new club ahead of their championship game with Leeds United at St Andrew’s Stadium in August

Rooney, whose contract with DC United expires in December, expressed frustration at the lack of progress in contract talks last month after impressing during his time as manager

“That’s frustrating because anyway, I’d rather know what the plan is because we have to make plans for next season. We need to do it sooner rather than later. The fact that we haven’t heard anything yet probably indicates one thing, but I’m sure they’ll have their reasons for that. So I’ll just wait.’

D.C. United currently sit ninth in the 15-team Eastern Conference, with the top nine clubs qualifying for the end-of-season playoffs. The last round of the regular seasons falls on October 21.

When asked about his future at the Blues last April – before the takeover – Eustace said: ‘It’s been great, I work for a fantastic football club. We’ve created a really good environment here, it’s been great to come in, work and see the players develop.

“We want to build something special and there is still a lot of hard work to be done, but we are all ready.”