Gary Rowett: 'I'm working hard on transfers'

Derby County manager Gary Rowett has said that he is working "incredibly hard" on bringing in new players now that the season is over.

The 43-year-old was drafted in at Pride Park in mid-March as replacement for Steve McClaren but was unable to revitalise the club's playoff hopes as they finished the season in ninth place, 13 points off the top six.

The former Birmingham City manager is now taking a hands-on role with this summer's recruitment in the wake of the departures of chief executive Sam Rush and technical director Chris Evans.

"If you look at it now, everyone gets a well-earned break, while certain people - which is me - have to work incredibly hard on the recruitment side, along with the recruitment team of course," Rowett told the Derby Telegraph.

"Really, I'm just speaking to agents constantly - I would imagine I probably speak to at least 10 agents a day, trying to look at potential deals for players and then working with the club to see if we can get one or two of those over the line, even though [transfers] are never as quick as you would like them to be."

In recent days the Rams have been credited with an interest in Liverpool midfielder Kevin Stewart.