Derby County's focus switched to bolstering strike force
DERBY County's sights now switch to the task of adding a striker to the squad.
Defender Richard Keogh's arrival from Coventry City takes the number of summer signings to three following the capture of wide midfielders Michael Jacobs and Paul Coutts.
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Derby are keen on Wigan Athletic's front man Conor Sammon, who they would like to bring to Pride Park on a long-term loan.
Young centre-forward Callum Ball has moved to Coventry on a season-long loan as part of the Keogh deal and Steve Davies, joint leading scorer last season, is still likely to depart before the Championship campaign kicks off on August 18.
With that in mind, manager Nigel Clough would like to bolster the attack with a new face.
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Derby are keen on Wigan Athletic's front man Conor Sammon, who they would like to bring to Pride Park on a long-term loan.
The Rams missed out on Sammon 18 months ago when he move from Kilmarnock to Wigan but he has struggled for starts at the Premier League club.
When asked for the latest on Sammon, Clough said: "It is no secret we would like to bring a striker in. We liked him (Sammon) 18 months ago when he came down from Scotland but we are very much in Wigan's hands."
Sammon insists he has heard nothing about a possible loan move to Derby and is fully focused on trying to break into the Wigan team.
"As far as I'm concerned, I'm just totally focused on playing for Wigan, trying to get more starts and putting myself in contention," he said.
"I'm really looking forward to the season. It's a new start, a new slate."
Derby's current options up front are Davies, Nathan Tyson, Theo Robinson, Jamie Ward and 16-year-old Mason Bennett.
"We have lost Callum, so we could do with one coming in," said Clough.
"We will also see how the Steven Davies situation resolves itself because that would leave us with Nathan, Theo, Jamie Ward, who might play a more central role this season, and also Mason Bennett.
"We are OK up there but it would be nice to get that extra one in.
"We've been concentrating all our efforts on getting Richard Keogh in the building in the last few days and that has taken a great deal of effort on everybody's part from the owners down."
Davies has been made available for transfer after he turned down the offer of a new contract.
He has a year to run on his current deal.
Ipswich remain keen on signing him but the two clubs have yet to agree on a fee.
Clough said they were not too far apart, adding: "There is a bit of talking going on and we await developments on that one."
Ipswich boss Paul Jewell signed Davies when manager at Derby.
"I think he's a good player but there are a number of good players and we could be here all night talking about speculation," said Jewell, who has asked about the possibility of taking West Ham United striker Sam Baldock on a season-long loan, with a view to a permanent deal.
Jewell is hopeful of making a fourth summer signing sooner rather than later, saying he had "a few things going on".
Regarding Davies, Jewell added: "We have not made a bid but I spoke to Nigel Clough on Wednesday to say we do have other targets."
Meanwhile, Davies is training with Derby.
Clough says the uncertainty over Davies' future is not an ideal situation but added: "We have had no problems with him in training.
"He has worked as hard as the rest of the players and he is looking in pretty good shape."
Comments
by MetalRam
Tuesday, July 24 2012, 11:59AM
“according to the paper lee Barnard from Southampton is for sale. I believe he would be a good addition to our strike force and wouldn't cost a great amount.”
by TADLEYRAMS
Tuesday, July 24 2012, 11:21AM
“Spondonram- Spot on
2 strikers ideally needed - Tyson has to get better, Theo is limited, Ball should get better for loan move, Ward - He could do quite well up front, tricky player, with abit of fight, playing out wide like last year means in certain games you see very little of the ball, you want your better players on the ball as much as you can and in an area which hurts the opposition. A big striker in the mould of Kuqi as well as Ward could work....”
by teknofear
Tuesday, July 24 2012, 10:49AM
“I think Clough's major problem is finding a prolific Striker with the funds DCFC have. A '20 Goal a Season' striker is not going to come through a loan (lets be realistic, high scoring strikers are going to be first team players).
Clough's other option, therefore, would be to find a good Target man. A player who can hold the ball up, bring other players into the final third, and get a share of goals too.
A decent enough Target man would be able to feed Theo, and could actually be a major benefit to Theo's game, and hopefully help him to score more goals than last season.
Also a big player who is useful with his head can only be a benefit from set-pieces, and lets face it, Derby need a much better return from Corners and Free Kicks this coming season.”
by ibelieveido
Tuesday, July 24 2012, 9:30AM
“The trouble is some people have no Vision...
All they can see is the amount of ££££££££££££££££££££££££££££
the premier teams can splash around ,well if an Abramovich ( not
sure about the spelling ) type was to get his spare cash out and buy
D.C.F.C i would look forward to a few famous names pulling on a Rams
shirt too ,but i would still want N.C picking the team ,Why ? , because
he has Derby in his Blood/heart/and in his whole being ,he is desperate
to take us to the promised land,and if he does/did , he will do a whole
lot better job then the last time we were there.
but,until that time,sit back and enjoy what he is trying to do now,build
a squad/team/spirit that is going to drive us forward ,using players that
WANT TO PLAY FOOTBALL and not just get richer.
CLOUGH,THE FUTURE OF D.C.F.C.”
by Pycrust
Monday, July 23 2012, 7:02PM
“Angus, both teams get excited about spending a mill.man city pay that in wages per player per month .its not defeatist but I buy my season tickets to watch derby not man u Chelsea etc .i want us to be in a league where we stand a chance of being competitive..”
by AcapulcoAngus
Monday, July 23 2012, 6:37PM
“Dearie me Pycrust that's a bit defeatist. I thought Ben Davies was a decent lad? and take a look at Stoke City, a club not too disimilar to Derby or Forest in terms of attendances playing in Europe and a steady mid table Premier League side over several seasons. Meanwhile Forest have just signed Adlene Guedioura on a 3 year contract from Wolves. We had him on loan last season and our fans fell in love with him. Our owners have tweeted that we should expect many more signings in the coming week. Big excitement at The City Ground! I'm buzzing! Good Luck COYR!”
by Pycrust
Monday, July 23 2012, 5:56PM
“Angus, you can have Betty Davis no probs as for promotion to the promised land saints will struggle which is not there fault .to much money needed and most fans get frustrated by constantly struggling ,even if either of us got promotion the big teams would buy our best players to keep us in our rightful place.”
by HenkelRam
Monday, July 23 2012, 5:15PM
“mystic sheep you absolute moron, you cant be a derby fan and if you are youre just so thick its untrue. Coventrys problem was their attack more than defence, youre basically saying a team who goes down cant have any good players? Ridiculous statement. Why did Cardiff, Leeds, Brizzle n Sheff Wed all want him? Blown out the water on that one. Signing average league 1 n 2 players, who do you mean? Surely not judging Michael Jacobs or Paul Coutts before we have seen them? Jacobs was probs the most wanted player in league 2, n coutts was wanted by brum n hull so cant be that shabby. You're uneducated, mis guided and totally naive in your views, absolute moron.”
by SpondonRam1
Monday, July 23 2012, 4:50PM
“If Davis leaves I think we then find ourselves needing two strikers. I'd personally like to see us sign one with a proven record somewhere, lower leagues or reserves for a Manu/Arsenal along with a proven Championship striker. Personally I think one needs to have a little bit of craft while the other needs to be more of a target, especially with Ball gone.
Still think we need another CB too!”
by AcapulcoAngus
Monday, July 23 2012, 4:43PM
“Pycrust...I agree this league is getting more competitive but promotion is still there for the taking. Southampton managed it straight out of League 1 last season with a low profile manager and by playing good attacking football. We still have a lot to do in the transfer market before we are anywhere near complete. How do you lads fancy a swap we'll give you Boateng, Greening and Derbyshire in exchange for Bryson and Ben Davies assuming they are both still with you? 3 for the price of 2 can't be bad? COYR!”