Derby County have been linked with Chelsea’s Lucas Piazon.
According to a recent report in Yahoo Sports, Derby County are currently in talks with Chelsea over a move for attacker Lucas Piazon, with the player’s contract at Stamford Bridge set to expire next summer.
The Rams under Frank Lampard have used Chelsea as a source for player recruitment already, with youngsters Mason Mount and Fikayo Tomori arriving on loan.
Piazon was signed by the Blues as a promising attacker but now, at 24, his opportunities of making it at Stamford Bridge seems to be over, and the club appears happy to let his contract wind down.
The 24-year-old spent last season on loan at Fulham and helped the Whites earn promotion, scoring five goals and grabbing four assists in 14 starts. He has plenty of ability at Championship level, and Derby signing him for a modest fee in January makes sense.
But where would Piazon’s potential arrival leave Derby’s fellow attacking players? In Lampard’s preferred 4-3-3 formation, the Brazilian would likely feature in one of the wide roles with licence to cut in.
Lampard signed two attacking players in Martyn Waghorn and Florian Jozefzoon last summer, but the latter has barely been seen over the past two months, having failed to make an impression.
The former Brentford man has made just five starts for the Rams, with his last start coming in the 1-1 draw at Queens Park Rangers, where he was hauled off after 54 minutes following a poor display.
One start since mid-September doesn’t make good reading for Jozefzoon, and adding Piazon to the ranks would push Jozefzoon down to fourth choice wide player, with Waghorn and Mason Bennett also in contention. Unless Jozefzoon can quickly significantly improve his performance levels, then it’s hard to see him seeing out his three-year contract at Derby.
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