Derby County exit claim made on Ebou Adams - 'he's falling out of favour' | OneFootball

FLW's Derby County fan pundit has earmarked Ebou Adams for a potential January exit after falling out of favour under manager John Eustace

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…

Despite having signed 13 players this summer, Derby County have suffered a poor start to the 2025/26 Championship campaign under manager John Eustace's first full season in charge of the club.

Derby were extremely busy this summer, bringing in the likes of Patrick Agyemang, Carlton Morris and Ben Brereton Diaz in attacking areas, Max Johnston, Owen Beck and Dion Sanderson in defence, and Lewis Travis, David Ozoh and Bobby Clark in midfield.

In spite of this, the Rams sit 20th in the league table with one win, five draws and three losses in nine games so far, a record which is simply not sustainable if they want to remain in the Championship, let alone push for a top-half finish.

Travis, who joined this summer from Eustace's former club Blackburn Rovers, has been appointed captain of the club, taking over duties from Ebou Adams, and incidentally, his place in the squad.

The former Rovers midfielder has played the full 90 minutes in each of the club's last five league games since his switch, whilst Adams has completed just one, seemingly slowly falling out of favour with Eustace.

'One of the best in the Championship, ' Ebou Adams could face a possible January exit from Derby County

Football League World's Derby fan pundit, Shaun, has shared his opinion on who could be cashed in on this January by the club, if anyone.

Shaun said, "Most of our saleable assets are players that we have recently brought to the club, so there aren't many at the club that I think we can make money on at the moment, unless we were going to sell someone that we just brought, so that's not going to happen.

"For me, the only player that I believe we can make some money on right now that we could think about selling, which personally I wouldn't, but there's always been noise around, he's falling out of favour a tad, is Ebou Adams.

"He lost the captaincy to Travis, and there's an arguing case that they can't play together as they are very similar.

"So, you've now Travis, obviously someone that Eustace really likes, [he] brought him into the club and made him captain, and obviously Ebou Adams losing the captaincy and then on the bench last week as well.

"Ozoh, who replaced him, arguably Man of the Match, and they looked better together as a two than Adams and Travis, so it could be that Ebou Adams finds himself out of favour at Derby.

"His stock is high; he's still one of the best in the Championship at blocks, tackles, work rate, so I do think that there is a case where we can make some money on him.

"I think a lot of clubs would be after him if he were up for sale.

"I don't want him to go, I think he has been amazing at Derby, and it sounds mad to me even thinking like this, but if there was one player I believe we could make some money on that might not be a guaranteed starting eleven player anymore, it is Ebou Adams.

John Eustace, Derby County, must make a big decision over Ebou Adams this January

Adams has been an important player for the Rams since he first joined the club in January 2024 on loan from Cardiff City, helping the club achieve promotion from League One under Paul Warne, and was signed permanently the following summer.

In his debut season in the Championship, Adams established himself as a mainstay in the Rams midfield, playing 44 times in the second tier last campaign as Derby narrowly survived relegation on the final day following a goalless draw with Stoke City.

The Gambian international has started eight of Derby's nine league games so far this campaign, so he still appears to be very much within Eustace's plan, but with the emergence of Travis in midfield and the form of Ozoh, his place as a starter is no longer guaranteed.

This was evident in the Rams' last outing, a 1-1 home draw to Southampton, where Adams made a brief cameo off the bench, with Ozoh and Travis preferred ahead of him.

Adams has become a fan favourite at Pride Park, and a departure, especially in January, would still seem highly unlikely, though with his starting berth no longer a guarantee, he will have to prove to Eustace that he can be preferred over Travis or that he is capable of playing alongside him.