Derby County to face transfer blow as Rangers close in on £4.5m agreement | OneFootball

Derby County are set to be rivalled by Anderlecht in their hopes of landing Oliver Antman

Derby County are looking to build on their eighth-placed finish in the Championship in the upcoming campaign, but need some attacking reinforcement to do so.

John Eustace's side played the loan market to perfection last season, especially in forward areas.

Ben Brereton Diaz was a key fixture of the side all year, while Sammie Szmodics and Jaydan Banal both contributed massively towards the end of the year to aid in their play-off surge, which fell short on the final day.

With those three gone, though, and Patrick Agyemang set to miss the opening stages of the upcoming campaign as he continues to recover from the Achilles injury he suffered in April, more attackers are needed through the door at Pride Park before September 1.

Derby have been quite quiet on the transfer front after their statement signing of Bobby Clark for £6 million, but have added Filip Bilbija, who scored 17 times in 33 games off the left wing for German second-tier side Paderborn, helping them to promotion to the Bundesliga.

That's a big move, but John Eustace's bid to improve their right side this summer may have run into a Belgian-shaped roadblock.

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Derby have registered their interest in Rangers' right-winger Oliver Antman, but according to reports in Scotland, they could be losing out to Belgian side Anderlecht in their pursuit.

The Daily Record have reported that the former 34-time Belgian Pro League champions have bid £4 million for the Finnish international, while the Scottish Sun have gone one further, reporting that a £4.5 million bid has been accepted by Derek McInnes' side.

Antman has only spent a year at Ibrox, but that year has been far from productive. He was brought to the club by Russell Martin, but the current Leicester City boss was sacked just two months later.

A leg injury shortly after ruled him out for a couple of months, and upon his return, he struggled to get into the side under Danny Rohl, his last league start coming in late November before that layoff.

Rangers did bring him in off the back of a breakout campaign in The Netherlands, though, scoring six times and assisting 15 for Go Ahead Eagles, helping them secure qualification to the Europa League.

It's hoped that whoever does end up landing him this summer can help Antman return to that form, and if the 24-year-old can, he could end up being a real asset. Unfortunately, it seems that Derby won't be the side to help reignite his career.

Derby County may be happy to fall away in Oliver Antman transfer race

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Outside of that brilliant campaign with Go Ahead Eagles in 2024/25, Antman hasn't exactly thrived throughout his career.

Before that one year in Holland, the 24-year-old had spent the majority of his senior career playing for Danish side Nordsjaelland, but he struggled for regular minutes and hardly made an impact in the Superliga.

The Finnish international would even be loaned out to FC Groningen in the second half of the 2022/23 campaign, after playing fewer than 500 minutes for his parent club in the opening stages.

Do you think Derby County have dodged a bullet in potentially missing out on Oliver Antman? Let us know in the comments.

There's no doubt that, with regular game time, Antman could progress. The only campaign he's had as a first-choice winger in his career earned him that £4 million move to Rangers last summer.

But, with the Rams already footing a decent seven-figure fee for Clark, perhaps spending close to £4.5 million for someone like Antman would be a risk that they'd be wise not to take.

If the 24-year-old goes on to be a success at Anderlecht, perhaps there may be some transfer envy, but for now, losing out on his services could be a bullet dodged in what is hoped to be a successful campaign at Pride Park.