Wayne Rooney’s Derby County side have been handed the opportunity to bring on-loan centre-back George Edmundson to Pride Park on a permanent basis this summer, according to reports.
What’s the word?
Football Insider claim that Rangers will be looking to offload Edmundson in the upcoming transfer window, with an offer of around £1 million thought to be enough to land the defender.
Would Edmundson be a good signing for Derby?
Yes
No
Astute signing
Despite having failed to make a real impression at Ibrox after joining Rangers from Oldham Athletic back in 2019, with the 23-year-old having made just 17 appearances for Steven Gerrard’s side, since joining Derby on loan back in February, the centre-back has shown glimpses of what he is capable of from the heart of defence.
Over his eight Championship appearances for Wayne Rooney’s side, Edmundson has made an average of 0.6 interceptions, 1.6 tackles and three clearances per game, culminating in an average SofaScore match rating of 6.83 – ranking him as the club’s 11th-best performer in the second tier.
The £4,000-per-week defender particularly impressed in Derby’s 0-0 draw with Barnsley, in which he won seven of his 10 duels and earned a SofaScore match rating of 7.3, as well as in the 2-0 victory against Huddersfield Town, in which the 23-year-old scored one of Derby’s goals as well as earning a match rating of 7.6.
Aside from these impressive performances, the fact that Derby have a number of loan players returning to their parent clubs this summer is another reason why the club should look to bring Edmundson back to Pride Park, with the defender – whom Gerrard once described as “faultless” – being an excellent option to provide Rooney with greater defensive depth in his first-team squad.
Furthermore, considering the extremely reasonable fee Rangers are reported to be demanding for the centre-back, his signing would represent something of a steal for the Championship side, who will undoubtedly be looking to build a team over the course of the summer that is capable of a much more respectable finish in the second tier next season.
In other news: Bye-Bye Waghorn: Rooney must sanction Derby summer swoop for “fantastic” £5k-p/w ace – opinion