Tom Lawrence could leave Wayne Rooney’s cash-strapped Derby County for free in the January transfer window with Championship rivals West Brom and AFC Bournemouth interested, as reported by The Mail.
Eyebrows were certainly raised when Derby manager Rooney handed the captain’s armband to his one-time Manchester United team-mate at the start of the new campaign.
But Lawrence, much like his coach, has done an impressive job in almost impossible circumstances at Pride Park, the 27-year-old leading by example as a hodgepodge squad made up of baby-faced youngsters and grizzled veterans desperately attempt to battle against the rising tide of financial problems.
“I feel Tom Lawrence has been very good as captain,” Rooney said of the attacking midfielder, who has two goals and three assists to his name this season.
“I wasn’t expecting him to be the biggest voice in the dressing room because people lead in different ways. He could have scored more goals but his work ethic and the way he leads from the front has been excellent.”
Lawrence, then, would be a major loss for a Derby side who suffered the ignominy of a second points deduction earlier this week, leaving them stranded to the bottom of the Championship table and 18 points adrift of safety.
Could Tom Lawrence finally join West Brom in January?
One of the club’s highest earners on a rumoured £37,000-a-week, The Mail believes that Derby may have no choice but to cancel Lawrence’s contract in January.
And a host of Championship giants are circling already, like vultures over a bloody carcass.
Bournemouth, Stoke and Swansea City are interested.
As are a West Bromwich Albion side who came calling for Lawrence during the summer too, identifying Derby’s £5 million playmaker as a potential successor for the departed Matheus Pereira.
Alex Mowatt is the only West Brom midfielder to find the net under Valerien Ismael this term.
Lawrence, who hit double-figures for Derby in 2020/21, could maybe give an occasionally-toothless Baggies side more bite in the final third.
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