Into The New Year!

Well New Year has arrived and Wayne Rooney has finally made his debut for Derby County, but the fans still have plenty to chat about and that is the opening of the ~January Transfer Window.

Rooney will bring some much needed bite to the Derby attack, but it will take more than his influence to transform our performances.

The goalkeeping department is one area that many have claimed we need to make improvements and at the moment Ben Hamer is getting the nod over Kelle Roos between the sticks. In my opinion Hamer is a short term fix and we need to be looking for more experienced hands. Asmir Begovic has been mentioned by many sources as a payer who could be on his way into the club, but it remains to be seen if it's just idle gossip or in deed has substance.

In defence we are covered at Right Back by Andre Wisdom and current starter Jayden Bogle. Bogle is attracting the interest of several Pemier League sides. The Left Back slot is open to competition with Max Lowe looking favourite to be first choice if you are going by recent performances. Scott Malone and Craig Forsyth are also available, but the youngster for me gets the nod.

In my opinion we need some width brought to our attack and hopefully a recognised wide man can be amongst the deal that we conclude during the month.

Jamie Paterson and Kieran Dowell have returned to their parent clubs with Dowell then switching to Wigan and that gives us three loanee spots that are available to fill.

Many youngsters who have come through the clubs academy are now starting to break into the first team squad. Max Lowe, Jason Knight, Morgan Whittaker, Max Bird and Louie Sibley are now getting included in the match day eighteen. In my opinion it won't be long either before the likes of Jayden Mitchell-Lawson and Jamal Hector-Ingram also feature.

We have over the years borrowed many talented youngsters from Premier League Clubs with last season a prime example when Harry Wilson, Mason Mount and Fikayo Tomori all be came key parts of the Frank Lampard scheme, but do we need to borrow from other clubs?

Last season our own Under-18 team were National Champions so why not use our own youngsters?

Any loan signings that we do make I am hoping are experienced players rather than youth players. Mel Morris has poured millions into our academy and at long last it is looking like that may have started to pay off!