Exclusive: Sky Sports pundit believes 21-goal star "didn't fit the bill" for Derby County boss John Eustace | OneFootball

Sky Sports pundit Lee Hendrie is "not surprised" by Derby's decision to release Nathaniel Mendez-Laing at the end of the 2024/25 season.

Speaking exclusively to Football League World, Sky Sports pundit Lee Hendrie has said that he believes that the time was right for Derby County not to renew the contract of winger Nathaniel Mendez-Laing at the end of the 2024/25 season.

Derby are in a period of transition right now, with the club having only narrowly avoided relegation to League One at the end of the 2024/25 season.

The owners of the club have kept faith in manager John Eustace, who replaced Paul Warne in February, after the Rams avoided the drop at the end of last season.

County finished the season in 19th place in the Championship.

Lee Hendrie believes that Eustace "needs some younger players"

Speaking exclusively to Football League World, Sky Sports pundit Lee Hendrie has said that he feels it was the right time to let Mendez-Laing go because Eustace will want to place more emphasis on younger players.

"You could arguably say there are some good things of Mendez-Laing when he's on his game, but I think the manager will have seen that he needs more legs, more fresh ideas, and needs some younger players", he told us,

"I think that's the line he'll go down, bringing loanees in and maybe players on less money; younger stars that could fit the bill for how he wants to play."

Hendrie believes that Mendez-Laing ultimately didn't fit the profile for the sort of player that John Eusace wants: "Knowing him, knowing his work from Birmingham and Blackburn, he did have a lot of younger players and a lot of energy.

"It's no surprise that Mendez Laing has gone. I'm not sure that he fits the bill for Eustace, so I don't think it's a bad thing for Derby County or John Eustace."

He also added that he believes that Derby will be looking to push on from their narrow escape from relegation at the end of the 2024/25 season: "I think Derby will be looking this season to recruit a lot better.

"I think surviving in the Championship was their main goal last year, but now it's about rebuilding. They'll bring some fresh young blood in, knowing John Eustace."

Mendez-Laing didn't take time to find a new home

Nathaniel Mendez-Laing joined Derby County in 2022 from Sheffield Wednesday.

Over three seasons at Pride Park, he played 131 League games and scored nine goals. But now 33 years old, if John Eustace is to keep faith in younger players, then Mendez-Laing doesn't really fit their bill.

But this, of course, didn't mean that he was over the hill and that nobody was going to offer him a new contract.

He was picked up very quickly by his former manager Paul Warne, who Eustace replaced in February. Warne is now at MK Dons in League Two and Mendez-Laing joins him there.

Such leadership on the pitch may come in useful at a club which only finished 19th in League Two last season.