Derby County urged to beat Middlesbrough in £7m Leicester City race - ‘he’d walk straight in’ | OneFootball

Stephy Mavididi has been earmarked as an ideal signing for the Rams

Derby County have been urged to challenge Championship rivals, Middlesbrough, for the signature of Leicester City's in-demand winger, Stephy Mavididi, even if a deal doesn't exactly look that possible for the East Midlands outfit.

The Rams have endured a frustrating start to the season under John Eustace both on and off the pitch, with Saudi Arabian boxing tycoon, Turki Alalshikh, pulling out of a highly-anticipated takeover in between their 2-1 losses to Lincoln City and Charlton Athletic in the EFL Cup and second tier respectively.

So far, Eustace has only added five signings to his squad, with the standout of those being a permanent move for Bobby Clark from RB Salzburg, whilst the latest deal saw Alex Mowatt join from Midlands rivals, West Bromwich Albion.

Leicester, meanwhile, have also endured a mixed start to Russell Martin's era at the King Power Stadium, drawing their first League One encounter since 2009 1-1 with Notts County at Meadow Lane, with their lineup now showing more academy prospects than big-money names.

Mavididi is one of the Foxes' surviving players from their 2023/24 Championship-winning team still at the club despite back-to-back relegations, and with there still being strong interest in his services, the Rams have been told that the 28-year-old could plug an obvious gap in DE24.

Stephy Mavididi's current transfer situation after Leicester City's relegation

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As previously mentioned, Mavididi played some of the best football in his career at the King Power under the management of Enzo Maresca three seasons ago, with a £6.4m move from Montpellier initially looking like a bargain for the Foxes on a five-year contract with 12 goals and six assists whilst featuring in every single league outing.

However, with Leicester currently in the thick of their nadir after successive relegations and a six-point deduction, the man who scored just three times in 42 matches last term could still be on the move.

Indeed, it was claimed last month that Rangers were willing to part with up to £7m for the wide man, whilst Football League World exclusively revealed Middlesbrough's interest as Kim Hellberg eyes up further attacking reinforcements for the promotion hopefuls.

However, FLW also understand other Championship clubs are weighing up moves, and our Derby County fan pundit, Shaun Woodward, has urged Derby to be competing for Mavididi's signature.

Derby County told why Stephy Mavididi would 'walk' into John Eustace's side

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At present, Derby are currently limited in terms of their attacking options, with both Patrick Agyemang and Rhian Brewster sidelined, and whilst Filip Bilbija arrived from SC Paderborn, his only competition, Corey Blackett-Taylor, is still sidelined with an injury sustained when on loan at Bolton Wanderers.

Middlesbrough have invested heavily throughout this window, particularly for the trio of Radek Vitek, Ash Phillips and Will Lankshear, which Woodward believes could impact a potential transfer saga in a negative way for the Rams, but believes Mavididi would arrive at a new club with a point to prove.

"I'd be more than happy to see him at Derby," he told FLW.

"I can't see it happening though, if Middlesbrough are after him and other Championship clubs with a bit more money than us, given the wages that we probably just can't offer right now.

"He's a good player and it's not going to look good on his CV that he's got a relegation from the Championship, so he'd hopefully be hungry to prove the doubters wrong," Woodward added.

"He'd walk straight into our side as well because of the state of our wide areas with (Ben) Brereton-Diaz and (Jaydon) Banel returning to their parent clubs, and Agyemang and Brewster are both injured.

"We've got no one in the wide areas to support Morris right now,"

"I'd be happy to see him come in, but I don't think it's going to happen."

Stephy Mavididi would be a positive option for Derby if his confidence was restored

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In recent times, Mavididi's confidence has taken a massive hit, meaning that parting with £7m, which would also leave Leicester in profit, would be seen as a major risk by some on the outside.

However, if his confidence was restored under a head coach with the strong man-management skills which Eustace is well-known for, it could be a positive match, especially with the winger hailing from Derby, although he has never featured for the club before at any level.