Tom Lawrence insists that he has no plans to leave Derby County in the January transfer window amid interest from Championship rivals West Brom, speaking to the Derby Telegraph.
Then again, the decision may not be his to make.
The Mail claim that Lawrence, who is understood to be one of Derby’s highest earners, could be sacrificed by a club who were docked a further nine points this week after admitting breaches of the EFL’s Profit and Sustainability rules.
Bournemouth, Swansea City and promotion-chasing West Bromwich Albion have expressed an interest, The Mail adding that Lawrence could see the final few months of his contract torn up.
But the captain, it seems, has no plans to leap into the lifeboats and abandon a sinking ship, even if Derby’s hopes of an implausible ‘great escape’ appear to have gone up in smoke.
Will Tom Lawrence leave Derby for West Brom?
“For me to leave in January it would have to be for the benefit of the club, and for me, otherwise there would be no point in me leaving,” said Lawrence, a £5 million signing from Leicester City in 2017.
“I want to see the season out here but I don’t know what can happen in the future.
“I am out of contract and so are many other lads here, so we are all kind of not knowing what is going to go on.
“Obviously all the lads want to sort their future out. We all knew we were going to be in the last year of our contracts but we have to do a professional job and keep putting in performances, like we have been doing.”
West Brom were linked with a move for Lawrence over the summer too.
And, given that Alex Mowatt is the only one of Valerien Ismael’s midfielders to score a goal so far this season, a man who scored ten goals times a playmaking role last term could provide a welcome boost to the Baggies’ promotion prospects.
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