"He'll divide opinion" - Derby County urged to make surprise Tom Ince swoop | OneFootball

Our Derby County fan pundit believes his side should be looking to bring Tom Ince back to Pride Park

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…

Derby County have been told to make a shock move and sign former star Tom Ince from Watford in a bid to add more goals to their squad before the transfer window closes.

Ince spent two-and-half seasons at Pride Park between 2015 and 2017 and was a huge success, doing enough to earn a move to Premier League side Huddersfield Town in the summer of 2017, and seven years on he's still going strong at Championship level.

The 32-year-old scored a hat-trick for Watford in their recent 5-0 win over MK Dons in the Carabao Cup, but has been on the bench for the Hornets in their opening two Championship fixtures, playing just one minute against QPR before being left on the bench for their win over Stoke.

Derby have been told to capitalise.

Derby County told to move for Tom Ince

After making 114 appearances for the Rams where he scored 38 goals and registered 17 assists, it's fair to say that Derby fans are more than familiar with Ince, and our Derby fan pundit, Shaun Woodward, would like to see the club move for him this summer.

Speaking to Football League World, Shaun said: "One player that Derby County desperately need is a goalscoring attacking midfielder.

“We’ve brought in a lot of midfielders over the summer with Adams and Ozoh, but I can’t see any of them getting double figures in goals, and we need someone to chip in with goals. Without goals, we’ll be going down.

“I’d be looking to get an attacking midfielder, someone like a Craig Bryson type, who we used to have, but there’s not too many of those about anymore. “Having a look around, we’re going to be looking at players that aren’t getting into the sides, both in the Championship or maybe a youngster in the Premier League who aren’t in the submitted Premier League squad lists. “For me, I’d be going for a player that is tried and tested at this level, and you know he'll divide opinion amongst our fans, but I’d be looking for someone like Tom Ince. “He was a unused substitute for Watford, but he scored goals for fun when he was at Derby. Yes, he can be a bit lazy and sulk, but he did really well, and he’d give us goals and energy in the middle of the pitch. “He can also play out wide and to me, he’s a luxury player, but he could get us goals, and he knows the club, so he could come in and settle straight away. “I’m not sure everybody would agree with me there, but that is someone I’d be looking at, particularly as he was an unused substitute on the weekend. I know that someone like Tom Ince will want to be playing.

"To me, I’d be going out, signing him and putting an arm around him because he needs to be told how good he is.”

Tom Ince could still be an excellent player at Championship level

It's fair to say that Ince has been around the block at Championship level, but he's still a capable player and won't want to be sat on the bench for Watford this season.

Ince has made just shy of 400 Championship appearances, having played 393 games in the second tier, and he'll be desperate to show he can still do it at this level, despite his age.

He didn't enjoy the best of seasons with Watford last time around, scoring just twice and registering two assists in 27 appearances, but he performed well in a Reading side that was relegated the year before, scoring nine times and registering four assists.

A move to Derby where he would be almost guaranteed a spot in the starting XI would enable him to get a run of games under his belt and he could return to his best, which we're yet to see at Vicarage Road.

Ince will always have a soft spot for Derby, having played more games for the Rams than any other club, and he'd certainly add another dimension to Paul Warne's side.

He may be the wrong side of 30, but it would be wrong to right Ince off, and he's still got plenty left to give.