Derby County confirmed their first signing of the summer this week as they re-signed Ben Osborn.
The midfielder spent one year in Derby County’s academy before moving to local rivals Nottingham Forest.
After spending 16 years at the City Ground, Osborn moved to Sheffield United in 2019 and made 20 appearances as they won promotion to the Premier League.
After being released by the Blades, Derby fought off competition from Watford to sign the 29-year-old on a free transfer.
It is the first step in Paul Warne’s bid to build a Championship ready squad, having offloaded six first-team players from their ranks at the end of the season.
Derby County unlikely to sign Josh Windass
The Rams have been linked with a host of players so far this summer, one of whom is Josh Windass.
After playing a ‘key’ role in Sheffield Wednesday’s survival last season, it was reported that Windass could be on his way out once his contract expired.
Derby were one of several Championship clubs – including Hull City and West Brom – eyeing up a free transfer for the midfielder.
Windass has scored 40 goals and provided 17 assists in 135 matches for the Owls, including a memorable last-gasp winner in the 2023 play-off final against Barnsley.
Wednesday had looked set to lose the 30-year-old as contract talks were on the verge of collapsing, but it now looks like the Rams could miss out on him.
The Star journalist Alex Miller wrote on X: “Understand good progress has been made on Owls’ Josh Windass contract talks in the last days. Other clubs remain keen. Been quite the saga.”
The Rams surely couldn’t afford his £15k-per-week wages
Derby may still be interested in signing Windass, but at this point it looks like it could be quite difficult.
It appears he is eager to find a resolution with Wednesday, while it is unclear what the hold up has been.
One thing is for sure and that is that the Rams won’t be able to offer any cash that Wednesday are perhaps refusing to pay.
Windass was reportedly raking in around £15,000-per-week last season – a figure that he would be unlikely to land at Pride Park.
Given that he was also wanted by clubs battling for promotion last term, Derby’s chances of signing him looked rather slim anyway.
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