Exclusive: Sky Sports pundit urges Derby County talent to "stay" as Morris and Agyemang sign | OneFootball

Lee Hendrie believes Dajaune Brown should stay at Pride Park and fight it out for a starting spot up front.

Sky Sports pundit Lee Hendrie believes young striker Dajaune Brown should remain at Derby County and fight for his place, despite the club bolstering the forward ranks with Carlton Morris, Patrick Agyemang and Andi Weimann this summer.

After helping guide the Rams to Championship safety last year despite periods of uncertainty, John Eustace is in search of additions that can help push the club away from the Championship dropzone this time around.

Derby have already brought in five players to Pride Park this summer, with Richard O’Donnell and Danny Batth following Morris, Agyemang and Weimann into the building.

Eustace has a previous pedigree of getting his teams to compete in and around the play-off places, achieving this with Birmingham City and Blackburn Rovers before his departure from those two outfits.

One player who will be looking to contribute to more top six success is young frontman Dajaune Brown, with the 19-year-old eager to make a breakthrough at Pride Park after gaining his first taste of second tier action last season.

Making 15 appearances in the 2024-25 Championship campaign, Brown will be aiming to play a regular role over the course of a 46-game season, but the arrivals of Morris and Agyemang could hamper his chances.

With this in mind, pundit Lee Hendrie has discussed what Brown’s future at Derby looks like as the summer transfer window ticks down.

Lee Hendrie urges Dajaune Brown to stay at Derby County beyond this summer

Speaking exclusively to Football League World, ex-Aston Villa midfielder Lee Hendrie believes Dajaune Brown should remain at Derby and fight for his place, believing he can learn valuable lessons from more senior players in the squad.

Hendrie said: “With Dajaune Brown, I know Derby have brought in Morris and Agyemang, but I don’t think they should offload.

“He’s a striker that certainly adds to them. He can give them something different, he can learn off the likes of Morris for sure, but I think when you have strikers in depth, it’s whether you’re going to be able to keep them all happy. That’s the other thing.

“Is Eustace going to play a two? Is he going to play one up there? Can one of those players play in wide positions?

“Carlton Morris is obviously going to be a big focal point for them, but you do feel there’ll be lots of players who can play off him.

“I’d like to see him (Brown) stay and really try and fight for that place. Sometimes you bring bigger players in with quality, and it does get the best out of some of these other players, so I would like to see him stay.

“When you’ve got three strikers in the building though, it’s hard to keep them all happy, so with him being a young player, he’ll want to get out and play some games, so we’ll see what happens.”

Dajaune Brown should continue his development with League Two loan move

Although Lee Hendrie raises an interesting point about learning from the more experienced players in the Derby squad, Dajaune Brown will want regular minutes under his belt in the early stages of his career, and he doesn’t have a favourable chance of getting that at Pride Park with the recent additions up front.

At 19, Brown still has plenty of time on his side to grow and develop into a first-team regular at Pride Park, but first, he must prove that he can perform at a consistent level in League Two before thinking about making the step-up to the Championship.

There are plenty of fourth tier clubs who could help him thrive, with the likes of MK Dons, Bristol Rovers and Notts County all in the market for further firepower before the 2025-26 campaign kicks off.

The upcoming League Two season could be the perfect opportunity for Brown to raise some eyebrows in the EFL pyramid and increase his chances of future game time at Pride Park, whereas his career could become stagnant if he elects to sit on the bench most weeks with the Rams this season.