Derby County owner Mel Morris has turned down a £50million offer from an American consortium to buy the club, a report from The Sun has claimed.

Morris became the sole owner of the club in September 2015, but it appears as though could sell the Championship outfit for the right price.

According to the latest reports, the consortium had flown in to finalise the takeover of the Pride Park club for £50million, before being told that Morris was demanding more money for the club, with the businessman now apparently requesting £60million for the sale of the club.

The Rams owner has recently come under scrutiny for his purchase of Derby's Pride Park Stadium, in what has been viewed as a way of getting around the Football League's financial regulations.

It has been a mixed start to the season on the pitch for Derby, who have taken three wins and six draws from their opening 11 games of the season to leave them 13th in the second tier standings, as they look to build on their run to the Championship play-off final last season.

Off the pitch, the club have also come under scrutiny after Tom Lawrence and Mason Bennett were charged with drink-driving, following an incident that has ruled club captain Richard Keogh out of action until next season.

The Verdict

This is an interesting one.

It does seem as though Morris is open to selling Derby, although he clearly wants to get his money's worth for the club.

Whether or not there are any other bidders who are willing to pay that amount to buy the Rams remains to be seen, although the situation here may not be helped by the recent negative publicity around the incident involving Bennett and Lawrence.

You feel therefore, that Derby may need to start picking up more positive results on the pitch, in order to make them an attractive proposition for any prospective bidders.

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