Phil Jagielka: Ex-England defender joins Derby County along with Sam Baldock
- Published
Phil Jagielka, who played for Derby in pre-season friendlies, won 40 caps for England
Derby County have signed former England defender Phil Jagielka and forward Sam Baldock on short-term deals.
The pair were free agents, having been released by Sheffield United and Reading respectively, but have agreed contracts to run until January.
Jagielka, who turned 39 on Tuesday, and Baldock, 32, could make their debuts in Wednesday's game at Hull City.
Baldock will provide cover for Colin Kazim-Richards, who was stretchered off against Peterborough on Saturday.
"He's had a scan, we know what the injury is, but we're waiting for a specialist's opinion on whether he needs surgery or not," said Rooney.
"We can't put a timescale on it yet, but I know it will be a long time either way. It'll be months, but I don't want to say it's going to be six months, or nine months or three months, because we don't know yet."
Colin Kazim-Richards was Derby's top scorer in the 2020-21 season
Jagielka has played almost 600 league games during his career, spending 12 years with Everton in between his two spells at Bramall Lane.
Baldock began his career at MK Dons and moved on to West Ham, Bristol City and Brighton before joining Reading in the summer of 2018.
He played 23 games without scoring last season but has netted 100 career league goals in 354 appearances.
"To get them in is great news for us, it'll really help the team," said Rooney.
"I'm not too sure how it happened. I think the EFL have probably seen the position we're in and showed a bit of compassion and allowed us to bring two players in."
Derby are only allowed to sign non-contracted players under the terms of an English Football League transfer embargo imposed for breaches of financial regulations - but can only do so under strict wage limits.
Meanwhile, the club's deadline for submitting revised accounts to the EFL for the years ending 30 June 2016, 2017 and 2018 has been extended until 24 August.
Find all the latest football transfers on our dedicated page.