Derby County, Kane Wilson claim dropped after devastating blow - Paul Warne's MK Dons risk has "backfired" | OneFootball

The former Rams full-back has suffered some early misfortune with the League Two side

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 were one of the Championship's busiest clubs when it came to transfer activity in the recently closed summer window, with John Eustace overseeing a plethora of incomings and departures at Pride Park.

After narrowly consolidating back in the second-tier after two seasons in League One, the 45-year-old is hoping to eventually take the Rams back to their previous position as play-off contenders in the division after making sweeping changes to his squad throughout his maiden pre-season and transfer window in charge.

This meant bidding farewell to several key performers from their two third-tier campaigns under Paul Warne, with the likes of Sonny Bradley, Conor Washington, Tom Barkhuizen and Kane Wilson all departing the club, with the aforementioned full-back reuniting with the former Derby boss at League Two promotion favourites MK Dons - a deal which Football League World exclusively revealed.

Given Wilson's consistent performances over a two-season period for the East Midlands side, his exit certainly divided opinion among the masses in DE24, although all of a Rams persuasion will be extremely gutted for the 25-year-old, who has already suffered misfortune for the Buckinghamshire outfit.

Derby County stance offered as Kane Wilson suffers early MK Dons injury setback

After making 85 appearances whilst registering five goals and posting a further seven assists from the right side of defence, Wilson was handed his Dons debut in their recent 3-2 defeat to Grimsby Town at Stadium:MK, in which he played 72 minutes.

The West Bromwich Albion academy graduate had only recently returned to action for Derby in the EFL Cup defeat to Burnley after an off-season knee issue, and, unfortunately for Wilson, he was to suffer even further misfortune with the same injury issue, with it now being reported that he will likely not return to action until the start of 2026.

Speaking to Football League World, our Derby County fan pundit, Shaun Woodward, admits that a lot of Rams supporters were surprised that Wilson was allowed to depart the club in the first place, although his recent injury setback may make it seem like an obvious reason to cash in on his services with only 10 months left on his contract.

"Looking at it now, it looks like it was a good bit of business for us," Woodward told FLW.

"I have to admit, I was gutted when he left. I still believe he could've had a big part to play for us.

"I think he's good enough to be pushing in and around that first 11 when he's fit. But that's the biggest problem - he's not been for a while, and maybe Eustace felt that he just couldn't rely on him for a substantial amount of games this season.

"For whatever reason, it didn't work out, and now he's moved to a League Two club which, I think most Derby fans are surprised at because he's far too good for that level when he's fit.

"I think Paul Warne does have a history of maybe playing players when they're not quite right or they've got a few niggles. He has the saying of players 'gassing out'.

"Looking back, Eustace only played Wilson for 15 minutes before he moved to MK Dons and straight away, he's in their starting lineup and played an hour. I'm not sure Eustace would've done that.

"I think it would've been a few more weeks until Eustace built him up to an hour of football.

"You can possibly look at it that Paul Warne chucked him in too soon, took a risk and it's backfired massively as the lad's going to have some time on the sidelines.

"It could look like a good bit of business for Derby, but I do believe it's more Paul Warne chucking him in when he wasn't ready."

Paul Warne may be left with Kane Wilson regret after immediate MK Dons injury

Of course, no one knows exactly what caused Wilson to pull up 72 minutes into his debut before missing the subsequent encounter against Chesterfield.

However, having played a handful of minutes for Derby against Burnley, it isn't too outlandish to suggest that Wilson's body wasn't fully ready for such high levels of minutes and intensity for his new employers, which could leave Warne feeling some sort of regret.

The ex-Derby boss isn't exactly short on cover at right-back though, although Gethin Jones and Phoenix Scholtz offer different attributes in comparison to the attacking full-back, who, in the eyes of many Derby fans, could still feature for them this season despite the recent acquisition of Max Johnston from Sturm Graz.