‘Worked Perfectly’ – Derby County Combination Pleases Former Rams Star | OneFootball

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Ozoh grew up in Crystal Palace’s academy after he joined the Eagles back in 2013, when he was only eight.

The defensive midfielder has 13 senior Crystal Palace appearances to his name, ten of which came in the Premier League, but he has been deemed not yet ready for the first team.

Last season, he was loaned out to Derby, where he had an injury-hit campaign, but the Rams decided to take another punt on him.

And in this term, Ozoh has been a stellar presence at Pride Park and Barker lauded the 20-year-old for his goal last week against Norwich City.

At the weekend, Derby won 1-0 against QPR, where Clark and Ozoh played in the engine room; Barker stressed that Clark got a lot of support from the Crystal Palace loanee.

The former Rams star hailed Ozoh for his ability to show his competitiveness and strength in the middle of the park alongside a technically sound Clark.

“He [Clark] had a lot of support [in midfield]”, Barker said on the Derby Debrief (7:33), discussing the Rams win over QPR at the weekend.

“David, being next to him, first and foremost, he has got the physicality and the duels and the competitive side.

“And Bobby wanted to bump on, it just allowed one of the centre halves to bump forward and lock onto the midfielders as well.

“So, it worked perfectly, Bobby was excellent.

“It is okay giving him that confidence and putting him in there, you’ve got to perform.

“Him and David were excellent in the centre of the pitch.”

Clark is on loan at Derby from Red Bull Salzburg and has been linked with a January move to Celtic; John Eustace admitted that he does not want to lose the former Liverpool man to the Bhoys.