Derby County’s Chris Martin has been out of the picture for the past two seasons.
Derby County have dominated the headlines in the Championship over the past 24 hours, appointing former Chelsea player Frank Lampard as their new manager.
The former England international has taken over the reins from Gary Rowett, who left the Rams to join fellow Championship side Stoke City, and it is a deal that has gone down well with the fans.
Lampard’s arrival has got supporters excited over a potential change to a more entertaining playing style, while it offers a clean slate for several players who had found themselves out of the picture.
Of Derby’s squad, one player who immediately comes to mind having the potential to transform his fortunes under Lampard is striker Chris Martin, and getting the best out of him could be key to their promotion chances.
The Scotland international was one of the Championship’s leading strikers under former manager Steve McClaren, scoring 40 goals over two campaigns where the club narrowly missed out on promotion.
The subsequent arrival of Paul Clement and the switch in playing style hindered the striker’s chances, while radical changes to the squad over the past two seasons has seen him become somewhat of a forgotten man.
He spent the 2016/17 campaign on loan at Fulham, during which time Derby went through three different managers, while last season he temporarily moved to Reading as he fell out of favour under Rowett.
Simply put, Martin’s playing style did not suit the attempted counter-attacking system Rowett favoured, yet his struggles to adapt should not be a slight on a player who evidently has plenty of ability.
The former Norwich City man is at his best when acting as a loan forward, a pivot for attacking players to play off, and his style has been likened to that of former Chelsea striker Diego Costa (the BBC).
While Lampard never actually played with Costa at Chelsea, he has described the player as most like former Blues hero Didier Drogba; with the two men vital components in their respective title-winning teams.
Lampard knows all about the importance of having that centre-forward to play off, having been a goal-scoring midfielder himself, and in Martin he has a striker at his disposal with very similar attributes and playing style to that of Stamford Bridge legend Drogba.
Of course Martin is not anywhere near that level, yet the 29-year-old can be just as important to this Derby side, and Lampard getting him back to his best would be like having a new £10 million player on his hands.
It remains to be seen what system Lampard goes with, but if he adopts the 4-3-3 formation commonly used during his early Chelsea days, then he has the ideal Championship number 9 to lead the line already at the club.
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