Liverpool may loan Danny Ings out in January. Could Derby County be a surprise destination?
Danny Ings is ready and waiting to return to first-team football. The striker has been chomping at the bit after almost two years on the sidelines with serious knee injuries and now appears to be edging closer to his long-awaited comeback.
Ings, who scored four times in Liverpool’s 7-0 reserve thrashing of Bristol City last week, will be loaned out in January in order to get some much-needed minutes under his belt, according to The Sun.
And there’s no shortage of top flight interest in a player who hasn’t made a Premier League appearance since May 2016. The report claims that West Ham, Newcastle United and Ings’ former club Bournemouth are all in the mix.
In the latest odds provided by BetVictor, however, there is a new name in the frame – Derby County. The bookmakers have made The Rams 5/1 favourites to sign the former Burnley striker, ahead of 8/1 duo Newcastle and Southampton, the club Ings supported as a boy.
Derby may not be short of strikers with David Nugent, Matej Vydra and Sam Winnall to choose from but almost each and every Rams fan would surely snap your hand off if you offered them Ings in the New Year.
The 25-year-old has plenty of Championship pedigree, having fired Burnley to promotion back in 2013/14, and would surely give seventh placed Derby real hope of making the play-offs at the end of the season.
A potential problem, however, could arise if Derby attempt to convince Ings to reject Premier League football for a return to the Championship. Especially as it is understood that he would prefer to remain in the top flight to give himself the best possible chance of making Gareth Southgate’s World Cup squad, per TEAMtalk.
Anyone considering backing this 5/1 favourite should consider putting their wallet away.
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