Derby County chairman Mel Morris has insisted his club are 'focused on getting a deal over the line' for Wayne Rooney, who is poised to make an astonishing return to English football as a player-coach.

The former Manchester United striker smiled for pictures with fellow travellers as he waited for his luggage at Heathrow Airport after arriving from the United States on Tuesday morning.

Rooney was then driven to Derby's Moor Farm training ground and arrived just before midday to finalise terms on his deal and complete the necessary formalities.

Wayne Rooney has his picture taken with a fan after arriving at Heathrow Airport on Tuesday

Rooney arrived early on Tuesday morning ahead of his astonishing return to English football

Rooney (right) smiles for a picture with a fan while on his flight to England on Monday

Rooney is in talks over a player-coach role at Championship club Derby County

Just hours later, Morris conducted an interview with talkSPORT and confirmed that the Rams are doing all they can to get a deal done for the former England and Manchester United captain.

Morris said: 'It’s (talks) only been a couple of days. We understood he was keen to come back to the UK and of course we looked at it and decided if we could do something on the back of that.

‘The key to me was the conversation that he had with Phillip Cocu. That was critical to the interest Wayne has had.

‘It’s never done until it’s done but obviously we’re focused and keen to get it over the line this morning.

‘I’m sure once people hear news of this, which was unfortunate, you are inevitably going to get interest. I’m confident that it is something we can get done but you never know until it is done.

‘People will only be able to answer that (if the publicity will be a distraction) when the deal is done. Why wouldn’t you want a player with his background. His career has been phenomenal, he’s shown his leadership qualities in the USA and who wouldn’t want the chance to sign him.

'I can guarantee Cocu is as excited as I am. We’ve maintained all the way we’ve wanted to comply with FFP regulations and we see nothing in this deal that would change our stance.'

Didn’t know Wayne Rooney was also in our flight ✈️ 👍🏽⚽️📸🤳🏽 pic.twitter.com/Yhs5eIw2mN — Kiran 😍👨🏻‍🍳 (@___Kiran) August 6, 2019

Rooney takes a free-kick during DC United's Major League Soccer game with Philadelphia

Derby County owner Mel Morris has held talks with Rooney over the player-coach role

Rooney is 13 months into a three-year contract with DC United in Major League Soccer but he flew to England on Monday night and is expected to finalise a move to Pride Park on Tuesday.

Rooney has immersed himself in US life but has been planning for many months how to make the next step in his career by moving into management.

He is contracted to DC United until next year but is keen to push through a move after his agent, Paul Stretford, held preliminary talks with Derby owner Morris.

There were suggestions that he could move back in January but Sportsmail understands he may now cancel his contract with DC United and move before the close of the summer window.

Morris welcomes new manager Phillip Cocu to Pride Park earlier this summer

The 33-year-old was impressed by the opportunity Frank Lampard received at Derby last season and is interested in a player-coach role at last season’s Championship play-off finalists.

Derby began their campaign last night with a 2-1 win at Huddersfield and manager Phillip Cocu was asked about Rooney after the match.

‘At the moment I can’t say anything. We are working on completing the team and we said it was not complete yet,’ said the former Barcelona player.

‘It’s true we’re working to get the team done but I can’t say anything about names before things are done.

'There are a few more days, hopefully something more can happen.’