Fresh Derby County transfer update emerges involving Ipswich Town's Sammie Szmodics | OneFootball

Derby County are interested in signing Ipswich Town's Sammie Szmodics before the transfer deadline this month

Derby County are looking to reinforce their attacking options before the end of the window, with Ipswich Town’s Sammie Szmodics reportedly a target for the Rams this month.

As first reported by Mike McGrath via X, Derby are interested in bringing the former Blackburn Rovers and Bristol City attacking-midfielder to Pride Park before the window slams shut in less than a week.

The Rams believe they can offer Szmodics regular first-team football, something which he has struggled for at Portman Road this season, making just eight league starts in 16 appearances.

The 30-year-old was one of the standout performers in the Championship during the 2023/24 season under first Jon Dahl Tomasson and then John Eustace at Blackburn, with the latter eager to reunite with another one of his former players in the form of Szmodics before the winked slams shut.

Derby County are interested in providing Sammie Szmodics and escape route out of Ipswich Town this January

Indeed, the Rams are weighing up a potential move for Szmodics before the end of the month.

The Irish international has struggled to find the form he showed during his time with Blackburn since his £9 million move to Portman Road in the summer of 2024.

Szmodics scored 33 goals and grabbed a further four assists in 48 total appearances for the Lancashire outfit during the 2023/24 season, though he has netted just five times in 36 league appearances for Ipswich since his switch 18 months ago, without assisting once.

Eustace, who has already reunited with numerous former Blackburn players at Pride Park, namely Danny Batth, Dion Sanderson, Lewis Travis, and Andreas Weimann, is seemingly keen to add Szmodics to the party before the window closes.

With four loan spots currently taken up in the Rams’ ranks, they have room for one more before the window closes, with a loan deal between the two clubs the likeliest route Derby will take to strike a deal.

Whether or not Derby will be able to convince Ipswich to part ways with Szmodics before the end of the month remains to be seen, but having struggled to find his feet in Suffolk, a fresh start elsewhere under a familiar face may be the best avenue for all parties.

Following a summer of huge overhaul, bringing in 13 new additions, the top six was the goal for Derby and Eustace at the beginning of the season, and that ambition isn’t likely to have changed.

The Rams had barely scraped survival at the end of last campaign, with Eustace’s heroics in the dugout a huge reason as to why they remained in the division and why he was afforded the luxury of reshaping the squad in his image.

Borussia Monchengladbach’s Oscar Fraulo remains the only addition made this month thus far, though Szmodics may well be coming through the doors at Pride Park before the window closes.

Szmodics will challenge the likes of Ben Brereton Diaz, Patrick Agyemang, Bobby Clark, Rhian Brewster, Carlton Morris, Andreas Weimann and Lars-Jorgen Salvesen for a place in the Rams attack, though it would be expected that he slots in ahead of most of those just behind the main centre-forward.

Derby sit just two points off the play-off places as things stand in what is a hotly contested battle for the top six this season, with numerous clubs fancying their chances of a shot at promotion.

Should Szmodics sign, Eustace will be hoping he can find a similar vein of form that he found during their time together at Blackburn, with his addition only boosting the Rams’ hopes of a top-six finish this campaign.