Derby County among bookies favourites to sign Jack Marriott; but he won’t fix problem

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A host of clubs have been linked with Peterborough United’s Jack Marriott.

Derby County are among the bookies favourites to sign Peterborough United striker Jack Marriott this summer, listed at 6/1 according to the Bet Victor transfer specials.

The in-form forward has been in stunning form this season, scoring an impressive 32 goals as The Posh look to regain their place in the Championship via the playoffs following a three-year absence.

Marriott’s impressive strike-rate has alerted several Championship clubs, with the Daily Mail citing Sheffield Wednesday, Leeds United and East Midlands rivals Nottingham Forest as those leading the pack.

But Peterborough aren’t likely to let him go on the cheap. During the January transfer window, the Express claimed how Posh were looking for a figure of around £6 million for the striker.

Derby are currently sitting just outside the playoffs following their latest 3-1 defeat at Burton Albion, and from the outside looking in a new striker this summer makes plenty of sense.

Matej Vydra is the Championship’s leading scorer, but the Czech’s efforts aside, Derby’s fellow forwards David Nugent, Sam Winnall, Chris Martin, Andreas Weimann and Cameron Jerome have all struggled to find the net.

Nugent is Derby’s next highest scorer with seven goals – a figure which suggests that manager Gary Rowett needs to stretch his budget somewhat this summer to find Vydra an ideal striker partner.

But strikers at Championship level ultimately feed off opportunities given to them, and Derby’s shortage of goals has been a result of their lack of creativity rather than the poor ability of their forwards to find the net.

The Rams allowed Johnny Russell to leave in January, meaning they only have three wide players on their books – the inconsistent Tom Lawrence, Weimann who is arguably better as a striker and the ageing Ikechi Anya.

If Rowett has any sort of budget this summer, he must first concentrate on adding mobility to the midfield but more importantly creativity in wide areas as that has been their biggest problem over the past few months.