Phillip Cocu is Derby County's first ever foreign boss
Phillip Cocu says he is unfazed by taking a job outside the Premier League as he prepares for his first season in charge of Championship side Derby.
The 48-year-old was appointed boss of the English second-tier side after Frank Lampard left to join Chelsea.
Cocu guided PSV Eindhoven to three league titles and a Dutch Cup in his first job in management.
"It doesn't matter if you are a manager in the Premier League, or La Liga, football is wider than that," he said.
"I know that in the world of football you have to bring performance."
Cocu, a former midfielder who won a Spanish league title with Barcelona and was capped more than 100 times by the Netherlands, guided PSV - a club he also had success with as a player - to three titles in the five seasons he was in charge.
He went on to have a disastrous spell at Turkish club Fenerbahce, which ended with just three wins from 15 games in October 2018, and is back in football with his new job in the East Midlands.
Derby, a club that has been outside the top flight since the 2007-08 season, have finished in the top six in four of the past six years, twice reaching the Championship play-off final and losing.
They were most recently beaten 2-1 by Aston Villa at Wembley, a game that brought an end to Lampard's first season in management.
"Over the last few years the club has tried to build something and I want to continue this process," he said.
"I have the feeling it's a good fit [at Derby] and a good moment to step in.
"We will try to get in the top six in the league but the most important thing is the football we play and the development of individual players."
Source: bbc.com