Leeds and Coventry transfer talk for Derby County star feels distant: View | OneFootball

It may have been forgotten that Louie Sibley still remains at Derby County Football Club.

The midfielder, who was once highly regarded in the game, has seemingly fallen through the cracks at the football club.

Sibley came through the club’s academy and established himself on the scene fairly early on in his career.

However, his form has dipped off late, as he’s gone from being the regular starter and important figure in the side to one who doesn’t really have a regular place in the team and has been used in various positions.

Sibley is now vastly different from a few seasons ago, when the midfielder was catching the eye in the Championship and gaining interest from teams like Coventry City and Leeds United.

Sibley established himself on the first team scene in the 2019/20 season, as the midfielder was promoted as a youngster.

It was from then on that Sibley continued in the first team, playing regularly in the next two Championship seasons and then in the third tier. Sibley played 42 times in the league last season, during which he scored three goals and recorded a single assist.

Whereas in 2021/22, Sibley made 11 starts in the 26 games he played in. He played a total of 1,115 minutes of football and managed one goal in the process.

The midfielder performed below his xG, as it finished at 1.8. While, again, he didn’t live up to his xA, as Sibley had expected an assist rate of 1.8, but the midfielder didn’t grab a single assist, as per Fbref.com.

But Sibley continued to do his job, as he completed 167 passes of the 251 he attempted, leaving him a completion rate of 66.5, which is not too bad for a midfielder in the Championship tasked with getting a struggling side on the front-foot. While he was also comfortable keeping the ball in short areas, he completed 106 of his 120 short passes, suggesting it was his more ambitious passing game that led to the decrease in some tidy passing statistics.

However, that didn’t seem to put off teams like Coventry and Leeds, as they were two sides mentioned with significant interest in the player come the 2022 summer transfer window.

Leeds United and Coventry City did hold interest in Louie Sibley

It was reported back in the summer of 2022, that Coventry were interested and, at the time, leading the race to sign Sibley from Derby.

As well as the Sky Blues' interest, Leeds were also admirers of the midfielder under former manager Marcelo Bielsa. Their interest was detailed at the end of the summer of 2020 transfer window, after the club's promotion to the Premier League. Sibley had scored five goals in his last 10 appearances of that season, four of which came after the season's restart following lockdown, including a hat-trick against Millwall.

This was at a time when the Rams were suffering from financial worries, and it was expected that Sibley would be sold, as he was one of the club’s brightest prospects and, therefore, would go for a sizeable fee.

However, nothing seemed to come close for Sibley leaving Pride Park, and he has since remained at the club.

The 22-year-old was someone who was clearly rated and was being watched by a few teams in the second tier, but that now feels a distance away, as the midfielder has struggled for form this season.

This campaign has been more of a struggle for Sibley, as he’s been in and out of the starting XI and struggling to nail down a position in the side.

The 22-year-old has started 10 of the 22 games he has been available for, averaging just 43 minutes per game. As per SofaScore.com, Sibley has one goal in the 940 minutes he’s played. He’s looking a shadow of the goalscoring midfielder he was once considered, averaging just 0.9 shots per game, only 0.3 of which are on target.

Sibley’s one big chance created this season is reflected in just a single assist, with the midfielder only forcing 0.5 key passes per game. Simply, he isn’t involving himself in those game-breaking moments he previously did at Derby.

The Derby man hasn’t had the best of seasons so far, and with him being unable to cement his place in this team, it shows that his performances from a few seasons ago are much different from what they are now.

Furthermore, another factor that hasn't helped Sibley this season is that the player has been used predominantly in a left-back role under Warne, which obviously isn’t Sibley’s preferred position in the team and won't have helped his development.

It has had a major impact and could be a reason why he's not putting up the numbers expected of his talent in League One.

Sibley is coming to the end of his contract with the Rams and both the club and player will have a decision to make about his future. But he may not have the same interest in him as he did a few years ago.

Nevertheless, Sibley is still only 22, so the midfielder has plenty of time left in his career, and he will know that whatever he decides to do about his future, he needs to make the best decision for him and his career going forward. The talent is there, it's just about unlocking it again.