Derby are reportedly trying to re-sign Houston Dynamo star Giles Barnes.
According to The Sun, Derby County are making a shock bid to bring Giles Barnes back to the club – despite releasing him in 2009.
The Rams appointed former Chelsea, Paris Saint-Germain and Real Madrid coach Paul Clement as their new manager last week, replacing Steve McClaren after the former England boss failed to reach the play-offs last season.
Clement will be looking to mould his squad this summer after a number of loan players returned to their parent clubs, and a surprise name has been linked with a move to Derby.
A strange rumour from The Sun suggests that new owner Mel Morris is a big fan of former Derby wonderkid Giles Barnes, and has told new manager Clement to bring Barnes back to the iPro Stadium despite his release in 2009.
The versatile forward emerged in the Derby first team as a teenager but eventually fell by the wayside, and after spells with Fulham, West Bromwich Albion and Doncaster Rovers, Barnes moved out to America with MLS side Houston Dynamo.
Now 26, Barnes is starting to show some of that potential, scoring six goals in 15 games this season, taking his tally to 28 goals in 95 games for Houston.
A return to Derby would be stunning despite Barnes’ exploits in the States, with Derby surely looking to move forward rather than go backwards and bring back Barnes, whose first spell at the club fizzled out – but stranger things have happened, and Barnes’ form in America may suggest that he has turned a corner in his career and is ready for a return to England.
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