Club plot move to sign £7m Southampton star - Derby County will be interested | OneFootball

Ben Brereton Diaz is currently on loan with Derby County from Saints

Major League Soccer outfit Toronto FC are reportedly interested in signing Southampton FC outcast and current Derby County loanee, Ben Brereton Diaz.

That is according to Sky Sports, with the Canadian-based club looking to bolster their squad ahead of the upcoming season at BMO Field, which begins with an away fixture against FC Dallas on February 21st.

Brereton Diaz has become a household name at Championship level within the past decade. However, it is fair to say that his current predicament is not what the Chilean international would have envisaged just a short time ago, having made his first switch to the Premier League with Southampton in July 2024 after they were promoted via the play-offs under Russell Martin.

Saints were, indeed, relegated with the second-worst points total in Premier League history under the management of Martin, Ivan Juric and interim boss, Simon Rusk, finishing just one point above the division's all-time low accumulation of 11, which was garnered by the Stoke-born forward's current temporary employers back in the 2007/08 campaign.

Saints haven't been too far away from chaos in the four months which followed their relegation either, despite the fact they were amongst many outsiders and pundits' picks to achieve promotion in some form, particularly after the appointment of Will Still in May.

However, the South Coast side are now onto their fourth permanent manager/head coach in 12 months, having sacked the 32-year-old on November 2nd, with Tonda Eckert now in his first full-time managerial role having won six out of his first eight games as interim or permanent boss, although his side would succumb to a 2-1 defeat against Norwich City at Carrow Road last time out.

Brereton Diaz currently finds himself just one point and two places behind his parent club in the standings, having made a second loan switch of his Saints career to Pride Park on August 31st after the Rams' initial interest was exclusively broken by Football League World.

However, it now remains to be seen whether the forward will last the campaign in DE24 amid new trans-Atlantic interest.

As previously mentioned, Brereton Diaz has become a recognisable figure within the Championship circle in recent years, despite enduring extremely mixed fortunes over said timeframe.

After progressing into the first-team fold at Nottingham Forest, where he scored nine times in 57 appearances, Blackburn Rovers invested £6m into the striker's services, and it would prove somewhat worthwhile as he netted 47 times and assisted 15 strikes in 177 games, before, frustratingly, the East Lancashire side would miss out on a cash windfall as he joined Villarreal on a free transfer in 2023 after scoring 16 goals in his final Ewood Park campaign.

Since then, the man who has been capped 40 times and scored nine goals for Chile, has struggled for form and regular minutes, featuring just 20 times for the La Liga outfit before striking a £7m agreement with Saints on a four-year contract last summer after a first loan stint with Sheffield United.

He has only made 15 appearances for the Hampshire side since, though, and returned to Bramall Lane for a frustrating second spell, before failing to make the desired impact for Derby thus far, scoring once in 16 appearances.

However, the Championship rivals could be embroiled in an upcoming transfer saga as a result of Toronto's reported interest, albeit Sky Sports state that, at present, Brereton Diaz is one of the options which Robin Fraser is considering as he looks to improve his striking department, and that the possibilities of a deal are being explored by the Ontario side.

The report also states that no official inquiry has been lodged to Southampton.

It is hard to envisage a dramatic return to form for Brereton Diaz in the Championship at present, despite the fact John Eustace has continuously handed the forward a run of starts to end a 13-game dry spell in a variety of attacking positions.

It is also perhaps little surprise that Toronto are looking to sharpen up their attack, having scored just 37 times in 34 regular-season outings in 2025, finishing 12th in the Eastern Conference.

As such, the man who is no stranger to continental action, given his exploits for Chile, could be swayed by a move to the MLS, in a division which is notoriously different to the second tier of English football in terms of style, as well as a different general lifestyle, with football also not being Canada's national sport.