Barnsley FC may face serious Derby County transfer envy | OneFootball

Derby County may be in the market for MLS star Amine Massi. Should they land him, there may envious glances from a club where he impressed before.

Derby County could be in the market for an MLS star with previous experience in England, and his arrival at Pride Park may result in envious glances from his pervious EFL club.

With three wins and a draw from their first five Championship games of the new year, it's been a strong start to 2026 for Derby County. John Eustace's team are only in 11th place in the table, but the Rams are one of a clutch of clubs who'll be reaching the end of the January transfer window with a realistic possibility of making the play-offs for a place in the Premier League next season.

For these clubs, the January transfer window is a final opportunity to make final tweaks to their first-team squads ahead of the run-in to come.

With almost two-thirds of the season now played, marginal gains could be crucial in determining where everybody is by the end of the season, so the last week of January may be an especially frantic time in the Championship this season.

Derby County chasing Amine Bassi transfer deal

One name with whom Derby County have been linked is that of the Houston Dynamo attacking midfielder Amine Bassi. Reports in the French news outlet Foot Mercato have linked Bassi to a potential move, with the Rams having already expressed an interest in the player.

They report that Bassi has become "one of the darlings of the Texan public" after signing for Dynamo from the French club Metz in 2023, having scored 21 times for the club and delivered 18 assists. He was part of their team which won the US Open Cup in 2023, beating Inter Miami in a game in which Bassi scored what turned out to be the decisive goal from the penalty spot.

Bassi started his senior professional career at AS Nancy-Lorraine before transferring to Metz in 2021. There was a certain irony to this transfer, given that a goal from Bassi on the penultimate weekend of the season had relegated Metz to Ligue 2 two years earlier.

An Amine Bassi transfer to Derby could provoke envious glances from Barnsley

An Amine Bassi return to the EFL could provoke envious glances from South Yorkshire. Bassi spent half a season on loan at Barnsley, for the second half of the 2021-22 season, and while he was unable to keep them in the Championship that season, the player is still fondly remembered at Oakwell despite his team's relegation.

By the end of the January transfer window, Barnsley were in deep trouble at the foot of the Championship table. With just two wins all season and already being eight points adrift from safety, they were already staring relegation in the face when Bassi arrived from Nancy.

Bassi's performances weren't enough to keep Barnsley up. They finished bottom of the Championship table with 34 points, despite the fact that two of the three clubs finishing just above them - Reading and, ironically enough, Derby County - both received points deductions.

His performances were strong enough to pardon him for blame for this catastrophic season. He made 15 appearances for the Reds that season, of which 14 were starts, scoring twice and contributing a further five assists. He was released to return to Metz with three games of the season left to play, once Barnsley were relegated.

But Barnsley were clearly impressed by what they'd seen. In the press statement which accompanied his return to France, the club themselves said: "Moroccan playmaker, Bassi joined the Club in the January transfer window and quickly won an army of admirers with his swashbuckling performances. Contributing a number of assists over the last few months and scoring a brace of goals in our victory against Middlesbrough, Amine impressed in his short spell at Oakwell." Bassi left Metz for Houston Dynamo at the start of 2023 for a reported $1.5 million.

Impressing both in England and the USA, Amine Bassi could be a very useful signing for Derby County, should they be able to get the deal over the line. And Barnsley may just be left wondering what might have been, had they stayed up that season and persuade him to stay. There may well be some very envious glances aimed at Pride Park, should this transfer come to pass.