Derby County need attacking thrust from midfield but look set to miss out on Jackson Irvine, who will join Jon Toral at Hull City.
If one word could be used to describe Derby County’s start to the Championship season, ‘mixed’ must be among the leading candidates.
So far, Gary Rowett’s Rams have won just two of their first five league fixtures while Saturday’s 3-1 defeat at newly promoted Sheffield United proved beyond all doubt that the manager has a lot of work to do if he is to turn Derby into promotion contenders this season.
While Derby’s defence was far from watertight against Chris Wilder’s Blades, problems remain at the other end of the pitch too. The Rams were the lowest goalscorers in the top ten last season and they have managed just five in five so far this.
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Therefore, it does not help matters that Derby appear to have missed out on another player who could add a much needed goal threat from the centre of midfield.
This comes just a few days after they sealed the £3 million signing of Arsenal starlet Jon Toral (The Sun), who shone in previous Championship spells with Birmingham and Brentford, meaning Hull manager Leonid Slutsky now has two, proven second-tier talents providing creativity and goal threat from deep.
Derby were linked with both Irvine and Toral this summer and, while each would have offered some much needed thrust, the fact the club managed to sign neither should come as a major disappointment.
After all, Derby trio Craig Bryson, Jacob Butterfield and Bradley Johnson could only dream of matching Irvine’s tally of 10 goals from midfield for Burton last season. And Toral, while not nearly as prolific, is an expert creator of chances who starred under Rowett at Birmingham.
As it stands, however, Derby have missed a perfect chance to address a glaring problem.
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