Derby County are interested in signing defender Matt Clarke on loan from Brighton, Sun reporter Tom Barclay has revealed.

Clarke only joined Brighton from League One Portsmouth earlier this summer, but with The Seagulls closing in on the signing of fellow centre back Adam Webster from Bristol City, the 22-year-old may be forced to head out on loan in search of game time.

Derby themselves could be in need of a centre back, with last season's Player of the Year Fikayo Tomori now returning to parent club Chelsea following his loan spell at Pride Park over the course of the previous campaign, and The Rams are thought to be targeting the new Brighton recruit as a temporary option to fill that role.

So would Clarke be a good signing for Derby?

Here, we put the spotlight on the centre back's performances for Portsmouth last season to get a better idea of the answer to that question.

The first thing that is noticeable about Clarke's stats last season, is that the 22-year-old featured in every single one of Portsmouth's league games last year, be that in the regular season or play-offs.

That in itself is an encouraging early sign for Derby, showing that Clarke is a player who can both play through the pain of knocks picked up throughout the course of the season, and avoid making the sort of rash decisions that could see him suspended at some point during the season.

Interestingly, Tomori was a similarly regular figure in Derby's backline last season, featuring in 47 of the Rams' 49 regular league season and play-off fixtures.

It isn't just his reliability in terms of appearances where the stats seem to bode well for Clarke however.

With the defender winning over three-quarters of all defensive duels, Clarke enjoyed a slightly better success rate in that aspect of his game than Tomori, while the fact that he won 71.1% of his aerial duels means he quite literally towers over Tomori's 56.8% win rate in the air last season.

As well as showing that Clarke should be more than capable to step into Tomori's shoes at Pride Park next season, these are the sort of returns that will leave Derby fans - not to mention his potential new teammates and manager - more than confident that Clarke has the ability to keep opposition attacks at bay on a regular basis regardless of who he is stepping in for, should he make the move to Pride Park.

That confidence should only be enhanced further by the fact that, with over six interceptions and four clearances per game last season, Clarke evidently has the confidence and initiative to step up and take control of a situation when under pressure at the back, snuffing out attacks and putting his own side back in control of the game in the process.

Given that at 22-years-of-age, Clarke is still a player who has much to learn in the game, that is something which is hugely impressive and encouraging for Derby, and indeed Brighton, going forward.

Add to that the fact that with a pass success rate of almost 80%, Clarke is evidently able to both control the pace of the game and distribute to teammates further forward when either is necessary, and it seems that The Rams would be getting a more than reliable defender all round were they to bring the 22-year-old to Pride Park.

You feel therefore that while Brighton themselves may want to have other things in place before they allow a deal such as this to happen, with the new season bearing down on Derby and a replacement for Tomori in central defence yet to be brought in, this is a deal that, if possible, they should be pushing to make happen as soon as they can.