Crystal Palace Loan Star ‘Was Outstanding’ – Former Derby County Man Impressed | OneFootball

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The defensive midfielder joined Crystal Palace’s youth ranks back in 2013, when he was only eight years old, and developed in the Eagles’ academy.

He has 13 senior appearances for the Eagles, including ten in the Premier League, to his name but he has been deemed as not quite ready for the first team.

Last season, Ozoh was loaned out to Derby County, but two separate long-term injuries restricted him to ten Championship appearances only, throughout the campaign.

In the recent summer window, Derby again showed faith in Ozoh’s high ceiling and loaned him in for the second season in a row.

John Eustace is not rushing him into the starting lineup, as he has given him three league starts so far and he played more than an hour against Southampton in the 1-1 draw at the weekend.

Ex-Rams defender Barker feels that he saw six or seven brilliant performances from Derby players against a fine Southampton side.

He name-checked Crystal Palace on-loan talent Ozoh for his ‘outstanding’ performance against Will Still’s side.

“We played our part in an excellent game of football”, Barker told The Derby Debrief (1:27), discussing the game at the weekend.

“The in-possession stuff was better than what we have seen; there is a lot more detail, a lot more control in the build up.

“[We] got into some really promising positions, especially in the wide areas at times.

“I thought Ozoh was outstanding for the 60, 70 minutes that he played.

“[He] got a little bit tired, as did quite a few in the second half; [Carlton] Morris again was outstanding.

“So, in terms of looking at individuals, I thought there were six or seven really tremendous performances.”

Following his strong performance against Southampton at the weekend, Ozoh will look to cement himself as an important player under Eustace.

However, to achieve that, Ozoh must make sure that he stays injury-free, as injuries ruined his previous campaign at Derby.