Derby County are surely readying very clear Ebou Adams answer as transfer question posed | OneFootball

The Gambian international enjoyed a breakout year in the Championship last season

Ebou Adams' return to the Championship with Derby County was a huge success, as the Gambian international adjusted to the second tier much quicker than he had done a year prior whilst at Cardiff City.

The 29-year-old established himself as one of the most dominant central midfielders in the league, winning plenty of tackles and duels and being one of the main reasons why Derby conceded just 56 goals across the entire season - the second lowest out of the bottom half sides and two less than play-off semi-finalists Coventry City.

He also chipped in with a few goals up the other end of the pitch, too, netting six all season, and with Jerry Yates returning to Swansea City following his loan spell, he comes into the 2025/26 season as the Rams' highest-scoring remaining player.

John Eustace singled Adams out as one of his most important players immediately after taking the reins at Pride Park. He was named club captain for the final 13 games of the season as Derby nearly doubled their win tally across the entire season to remain in the division.

Therefore, the reported interest in the 29-year-old should be turned down immediately by the Rams, as losing the influential midfielder would be a huge blow to Derby's ambitions to finish in a healthier position than last season.

Derby County cannot afford to lose Ebou Adams this summer

Pete O'Rourke has reported that several Championship clubs are registering interest in Ebou Adams, including one who was recently relegated from the Premier League.

It makes sense that clubs with top-flight ambitions are looking at the Derby captain, as Adams was one of the best well-rounded midfielders in the entire league last season.

According to FotMob, Adams' 99 tackles won, and 352 duels won placed him atop the central midfielder charts in the Championship last term, and the 87 aerial duels won put him inside the top 2% in his position, too.

He was dribbled past just 39 times in the 44 league games he played last season, and also won 98 fouls, showing that not only is he excellent at winning possession, he excels at keeping the ball after he has done so.

Adams was a standout in the Derby side who looked doomed to relegation under Paul Warne, and was even better under John Eustace. Some optimistic Rams fans are hoping for a 2025/26 campaign similar to what could've been Eustace's first full season at Blackburn Rovers before he left for Pride Park, where Rovers were in a play-off battle until he departed, and the 29-year-old will be key for that to happen.

The Rams have had a stellar transfer window so far, with Eustace addressing his side's needs to improve in front of goal with the arrivals of striker duo Patrick Agyemang and Carlton Morris, and also bringing in players who have excelled under him before, such as Danny Batth, Andi Weimann, and possibly even Liverpool youngster Owen Beck.

The Rams look set for a solid season, but losing Adams would undo all of that and create unnecessary uncertainty ahead of the new campaign.

Premier League pull could tempt Ebou Adams to leave Derby County

Whilst John Eustace does have a recent track record of pulling clubs out of relegation battles and putting them in immediate contention for the play-offs, surely only the incredibly optimistic Derby fan believes it could happen once more this upcoming campaign.

Realistically, the Rams should be targeting a more stable season with outside hopes of challenging near the top six - the main focus should definitely be to avoid any relegation battles this term.

Adams is 29, and whilst there are still a good few years left of his traditional "prime," the window of opportunity to make that Premier League debut is slowly starting to close, and the likelihood of it happening at Derby is rather slim.

If a recently relegated Premier League side is interested in the Rams' captain, then you'd expect that the midfielder could join a side who are immediately expected to contend, and Adams could find himself playing for a top-flight side this time next year.

He'll have his ambitions, but you'd expect that he'll also have that loyalty to a side who have engineered this breakout season in 2024/25. One thing is for certain, though, you'd expect Derby to quickly shut down any approaches for their star man, regardless.