Derby County man urged to seal Rams transfer exit - 'it would be the best thing for his career' | OneFootball

FLW's Derby County Fan Pundit believes that Liam Thompson should soon depart Derby County for the betterment of his career.

This article is part of Football League World's 'Terrace Talk' series, which provides personal opinions from our FLW Fan Pundits regarding the latest breaking news, teams, players, managers, potential signings and more...

Following their survival in the Championship being mathematically confirmed on the final day of last season, Derby County’s squad underwent major surgery in the first summer transfer window of the John Eustace era.

The Rams began the campaign poorly but have since grown but appeared to turn a corner through the autumn, albeit they have now slipped back down and into the bottom-half of the table, albeit not too far off the top six and the play-off places.

Their 1-1 draw with high-flying Millwall at Pride Park in midweek left them sitting 15th in the table, but just four points away from Hull City in sixth, albeit does now mean they have managed just one victory in their last five matches.

One man who did survive the overhaul of the squad a few months ago, and who earned himself a rare start against the Lions, was midfielder Liam Thompson, but it may not be a sign of things to come for the 23-year-old.

Liam Thompson told to move on from Derby County for his career

Having started the opening three games of the campaign as Derby struggled, Liam Thompson has since found himself either missing through injury, not in the squad, an unused substitute or only getting onto the pitch for a couple of minutes at a time.

He did, though, replace Ebou Adams at half-time of their recent 3-1 loss to Leicester City before playing 85 minutes of that 1-1 draw with Millwall, putting in a steady performance in the middle of the park.

At the age of 23, though, and with opportunities in the first-team so limited and only coming about when there are injuries or significant losses of form from others, FLW’s Derby Fan Pundit Shaun Woodward believes the time for Thompson to depart Derby is near.

Shaun says: “I think Thompson did well. He does what he does best, he’s busy. He gets the ball, he gives it simple. He doesn’t try and do anything he can’t do. He kept us ticking over nicely.

“He’s not the biggest of central midfielders. He’s never going to dominate the middle like some of the more imposing centre midfielders can do but he knows what he’s good at and he’ll always give you 100%, he’ll always put a shift in and he’s quite tidy on the ball without being spectacular with it.

“I think Thompson is getting to the age now where he probably does need to be playing week in week out. I don’t think it’s any good for him being a substitute or a reserve to a Championship club.

“I think he might need to step down a level to go and play 40/45 games a season and then potentially move back up.

“Right now, he is a top end League One, lower end Championship player. It’ll work for him at the moment and (Lewis) Travis and (David) Ozoh are out injured and Ebou Adams hasn’t had the best of seasons and so he’s kind of moved up the pecking order, albeit on a temporary basis.

“Long-term, he’s a bright lad, I think he’ll realise that. He’s not going to be a starter at Derby, sadly, and it probably will be time to move on and I don’t think any Derby fans would begrudge him moving to another club to get game time because he’s just not going to get that at Derby.

“We signed Travis for money so he’s obviously going to be in Eustace’s plans and Ozoh is going to play if he’s fit, albeit he’s not our player. He will be fourth or fifth choice centre midfielder so it will be time for him to move on at the end of the season. I think it would be the best thing for his career.”

Liam Thompson has done a good job for Derby County

The last decade or so has seen Derby produce a lot of players that have either gone on to play in their first-team or been sold on, and so to graduate from their impressive academy is no mean feat.

Liam Thompson did that and has become an accomplished midfielder in the EFL for the Rams, having made his debut for the club back in the 2020/21 season.

Despite having made a career-best 28 league appearances for Derby in the Championship last season, he has often been simply viewed as simply a squad man, and that is even more so the case this time around.

Thompson has been a good servant to Derby during his formative years as a professional footballer but, as Shaun outlines, the former Scunthorpe United loanee could perhaps do with becoming the fulcrum of a team.

With Derby having aspirations of not only properly re-establishing themselves as a second-tier stalwart, that appears very unlikely with County and so a move elsewhere, be it in January or more likely at the end of the season appears to be best for the midfielder, despite signing a two-year deal in July.