Derby County should strike Chelsea transfer agreement before 11pm on September 1st | OneFootball

John Eustace and Derby County must follow what Frank Lampard did by targeting a Chelsea loan deal in striker Shim Mhueka.

Derby County find themselves in a strong position with their squad but still looking to add some key pieces ahead of the close of the window – and one of them should be to sign Chelsea youngster Shim Mhueka on loan.

Having missed out on the top six and the play-off places last season, Derby will be expected to eventually break into the play-offs this time around, especially with their expansion to the top eight teams in the Championship.

John Eustace, in his second full season in charge of The Rams, has been able to bring back key men from last year, such as Bobby Clark and Sammie Szmodics, while also adding Charlie Taylor, Filip Bilbija, Alex Mowatt and Ryan Hedges.

They are also linked with moves for attacking duo Mikey Johnston and Anis Mehmeti, of West Bromwich Albion and Ipswich Town, respectively.

While Johnston and Mehmeti would themselves be worthwhile additions to their squad, there should also be room to bring in an out and out striker – and Mhueka would be the ideal profile for them to bring in.

Derby should take a punt on Shim Mhueka

Birmingham-born Shim Mhueka came through the academy at Brighton and Hove Albion before moving to Chelsea in 2022 at the age of 14 – having already made his U18 debut for The Seagulls.

Mhueka was on the fringes of the first-team picture as early as the 2024-25 season, making five appearances for the club with one in the Premier League and four as they won the UEFA Europa Conference League under the management of Enzo Maresca.

He again went on to make a further four appearances in the first-team for The Blues last year and now, at the age of still only 18, is a highly-rated prospect due for his first outing to the EFL to gain further experience.

It is known just how strong the Chelsea youth setup is, and taking chances on their academy graduates is always worthwhile in the EFL, with Portsmouth currently reaping the rewards of that with the addition of Ryan Kavuma-McQueen, who scored their second in a 3-1 victory away at Lincoln City this weekend.

Mhueka is someone who has more first-team experience than Kavuma-McQueen, too, and is expected to eventually make his way through to the Premier League – and his signing would be an intriguing one for Derby to make, as well as filling a key hole in the squad.

Derby need depth in attack

At the moment, with Patrick Agyemang still unavailable due to injury, Derby only possess one true out and out striker in their squad in Carlton Morris.

Former Sheffield United attacker Rhian Brewster can play up top but, having begun his transition into more of a deeper forward or even a winger at Sheffield United, isn’t of the same profile.

In fact, John Eustace in particular often fancies a specific profile up-front, that being someone who would be described as a so-called ‘target man’, such as Agyemang or Morris.

They have plenty of technical players to play off their big man up top with Clark and Szmodics, as well as Bilbija, Hedges and Eustace clearly keen on adding to that with the links of Johnston and Mehmeti.

However, another player to provide support and depth to both Morris and Agyemang is also something Derby should be keen on – and adding the 6 ft 1 in prospect of Mhueka would make a lot of sense from a stylistic sense, as well as his exciting quality which has seen him notch 16 goals in 23 caps for England’s U19 side so far.

Derby can tap into history with Chelsea loanees under Frank Lampard

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Plucking a starlet from Chelsea’s academy system is something that Derby have done before and to great success when under the management of Frank Lampard in the summer of 2018.

That summer saw Derby bring in future England internationals Fikayo Tomori and Mason Mount, with both thriving in the Championship as Derby reached the play-off final, only to be beaten by Aston Villa at Wembley Stadium.

Centre-back Tomori has gone on to make over 200 appearances for Italian giants AC Milan, key to their 2020-21 Serie A title-winning campaign, while Mount is a UEFA Champions League winner and has starred for England at both UEFA EURO 2020 and FIFA World Cup 2022 before an injury-hit few years.

Whether or not Mhueka will be able to go on and emulate or even surpass those two, be it in the Championship or beyond, is very much uncertain – but he is certainly a talent that Derby