If recent reports are to be believed, Derby County are one of a host of Championship clubs interested in signing Aberdeen striker Sam Cosgrove.

The 22-year-old has been in red-hot form for Aberdeen so far this season, scoring 15 goals in 17 appearances in all competitions for Derek McInnes' side.

According to TEAMtalk, Derby - along with their Championship rivals Brentford, Charlton and Middlesbrough - have been keeping close tabs on the forward, who is thought to be available for less than £2million.

Cosgrove has never played in the Championship before, so there's every chance that he could be tempted by the chance to join any of these clubs.

Here are TWO obstacles that Cosgrove would have to overcome if he were to sign for Derby...

Adapting to the Championship

Cosgrove is a good striker and he's clearly got a lot of potential. There's no doubt that Derby could do with some more firepower up front, so he could be a decent signing for the Rams.

With that said, he's got no experience in the Championship, so signing him would have to be considered a bit of a gamble for Derby. For less than £2million, you could say it's a risk worth taking, but it's a gamble nonetheless.

His goalscoring record for Aberdeen so far has been pretty exceptional, but he also struggled to score goals while playing for Carlisle United in League Two, so it's difficult to gauge how many goals he'd score in the Championship.

There's no telling how long it would take for him to adapt to the challenges that come with playing in the division.

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Competition within the squad

As previously mentioned, Cosgrove has been scoring goals for fun for Aberdeen up in Scotland, but that doesn't change the fact that he's unproven in the Championship.

He'd need to do extremely well to impress Derby boss Phillip Cocu and convince him that he's got what it takes to make an impact at this level.

Even though Derby have struggled to score goals this season, they've still got some quality attacking players in their squad. The competition for places is likely to be stronger than anything he's experienced so far in his career.

He's very much the main man at Aberdeen at the moment, but if he were to make the switch to Derby, he'd have to contend with the likes of Martyn Waghorn, Chris Martin and Jack Marriott.

If he fails to impress Cocu quickly, he could find himself way down the pecking order at Pride Park.