Derby County have badly missed Chris Martin’s goals during his loan at Fulham – but would they really sell him to Wolves?
The fact that Fulham are on the verge of the play-offs with the Championship’s most prolific attacking record doesn’t reflect well on Derby County’s decision to loan them Chris Martin in August – especially when you consider that The Rams are eight points behind Fulham in the League and have scored 27 fewer goals. In truth, letting their top scorer for the last three seasons move to a direct promotion rival not only strengthened Fulham manager Slavisa Jokanovic’s promotion ambitions, it also seriously undermined Derby’s own.
The Sunday People reports, however, that Derby could sanction Martin’s sale to Wolves in the summer, a suggestion that they are yet to learn from their mistakes. The Scotland international may have struggled for form since attempting to apparently engineer a return to Pride Park after the turn of the year, but it’s clear that Derby have missed his hold-up play and clinical finishing.
It would be a major surprise Derby were to let him to go ambitious Midlands rivals Wolves in the summer, Wolves manager Paul Lambert coached Martin during their promotion winning campaign together at Norwich in 2011, and Lambert crying out for a prolific goalscorer with none of his strikers getting anywhere near triple figures this season.
Some Derby fans point to Martin’s perceived lack of work rate, and the fact that new manager Gary Rowett is likely to want a striker with more, let’s say, edge.
Once again, rumours over Martin’s future have divided the fanbase on Twitter.
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