Which players look likely to leave Derby County in the summer?

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The Rams are just one point off the Championship playoff places with nine games left.

With most of the Championship teams having played 38 out of their 46 league games so far, the race for the top six remains as hotly contested as ever.

Derby County remain around the playoff places, but given they were in the top six not ago and inconsistent form has seen them slip out, there will be some disappointment amongst the fanbase.

That said, Frank Lampard’s charges have a game in hand on all but one of the teams above them and are still just one point adrift of the top six, so it’s still all up for grabs for the Rams and a host of other teams.

Whether in the Championship or Premier League, Lampard will surely be casting an eye to next season in terms of his players, and with quite a few first-teamers out of contract in the summer, the squad could look rather different in 2019-20.

Craig Bryson, Jacob Butterfield, Bradley Johnson, Marcus Olsson, David Nugent, Alex Pearce, Kelle Roos, Timi Max Elsnik, Nick Blackman, Ashley Cole and Efe Ambrose all see their current deals expire at the end of the season, according to the Derby Telegraph.

Those who have barely featured for the Rams recently (Butterfield, Pearce and Blackman) are all very likely to leave, while Bryson has been linked with a move back to his native Scotland (Derby Telegraph).

Johnson has recently got back in the first team after initially being overlooked since completing a five-match ban for “biting” Stoke City’s Joe Allen in November, so he seems 50/50, while Marcus Olsson is still recovering from a long-term injury, so Lampard may well choose to let him go.

Nugent doesn’t have age on his side and the 33-year-old has only scored twice all season, largely as a substitute (Transfermarkt), so he doesn’t look likely to stay, while Roos is in talks with the club over a new deal (Derby Telegraph).

As for Elsnik, he is only 20 so Lampard has to decide whether he has what it takes to cut it at Derby, and Cole and Ambrose were brought in on short-term deals so they could potentially remain.

There are also several players who aren’t out of contract but, having been surplus to Lampard’s requirements, could also opt to up sticks – Chris Martin, George Thorne and Ikechi Anya to name but three.