Derby County have endured a difficult start to the Sky Bet Championship season, with Gary Rowett’s side struggling to make an early impact in the race for the top-six.

The Rams currently sit 15th in the table after 10 fixtures, having managed to pick up 13 points, which leaves them seven points behind the play-off zone.

Perhaps one explanation for Derby’s slow start is the difficult summer transfer window that Rowett faced, with some key players leaving the Pride Park Stadium.

Will Hughes and Tom Ince were two high-profile departures, particularly the latter, who last season was Derby’s creative cog, bagging 14 goals and six assists across the year.

Derby have struggled to replace Ince, and have also suffered due to their failure to add enough bodies in central midfield, with Rowett forced to bring free agent, Joe Ledley, in to compete with Bradley Johnson and Tom Huddlestone.

With that in mind, we take a look at TWO players Derby should look to sign in January…

 

Josh Morris  

£450k-rated Josh Morris could perhaps be the missing link in Derby’s squad, with the 26-year-old proving to be Scunthorpe United’s creative cog in League One over the last 15 months.

Morris has scored four goals from his 14 appearances across all competitions this season, adding three assists to that tally, with the midfielder influencing a goal in every two appearances on average.

Last season, Morris’ stats were phenomenal. He scored 20 goals across all competitions and bagged a further 19 assists, proving to be League One’s most influential player.

Morris could be the man to replace Tom Ince.

Henri Lansbury 

Lansbury is not a popular figure in Derby, due to his previous connection with Nottingham Forest and his current connection with Aston Villa.

However, the central midfielder has exceptional quality, and could be available this January, with opportunities at Villa Park hard to come by with the likes of Conor Hourihane, Glenn Whelan and Mile Jedinak all seemingly ahead of Lansbury.

Villa might be reluctant to lose £2.7m-rated Lansbury, but with the 26-year-old failing to make a major impact since his arrival at Villa Park, Derby could stand a chance of luring him away and strengthening a problem position.