This article is part of Football League World's 'The Verdict' series, which provides personal opinions from the FLW writers regarding the latest breaking news, teams, players, managers, potential signings and more...

When Derby County announced the signing of Colin Kazim-Richards on a free transfer, it's fair to say it received a mixed response.

[ad_pod ]

A new striker was needed at Derby County in the summer, but fans were unlikely to have been expecting the 34-year-old to be the man through the doors to help fire the goals in at Pride Park.

Scepticism was perhaps fair, given his last stint on British shores was with Celtic in 2016, where since then he has played for a plethora of clubs across the world including Corinthians, Veracruz and Pachuca.

The Turkish forward has since gone on to become a ever-present figure in the first-team having made 11 appearances, scoring one goal and providing one assist.

So, despite initial scepticism, would you regard Derby's signing of Colin Kazim-Richards an astute one?

The team here at FLW discuss...

Toby Wilding

I think he has been in all fairness.

Given he was a free signing, this was never going to be a huge financial risk for Derby, meaning they weren't at least going to lose out in that sense, and having been a regular feature in their matchday squad since joining, the striker has certainly earnt his wage at Pride Park.

Admittedly, Kazim-Richards' goals return hasn't been spectacular, but he has never really been that sort of striker, and he is far from the only in that sort of position within the Rams' current squad.

Indeed judging by some recent comments from the likes of Wayne Rooney, which in itself is a big compliment to the striker given who it is coming from, and it does seem as though Kazim-Richards has made a positive impression on the side, with his experience and work rate likely to be a useful asset for Derby as they look to get themselves out of the relegation battle this season.

Alfie Burns

I wouldn’t like to think where Derby would be without him.

The Rams struggle for any kind of threat in attack at times, but Kazim-Richards does give them presence and a little bit of something at the top of the pitch.

So, yeah, I think you can say that after some criticism of the deal, it’s been a fairly good call by the Rams to bring him in.

However, I think you’ll see the best of him when Derby, hopefully, bring in another striker in January.

They haven’t scored enough goals and that’s had a number of factors contributing to it, including Kazim-Richards.

He can’t do it all on his own, though.

 

Did these 25 players make more or less than 100 Derby County appearances?

 

 

Phil Spencer

I don't think I've seen anything to suggest that Colin Kazim-Richards has been an astute signing.

At 34 years of age the striker was always going to be a short-term solution to a long-term problem - unfortunately, I don't think he's solved it.

One goal in 11 matches so far is hardly the type of record that the Rams will have wanted from the experienced striker and that will need to be improved upon if he's to keep his spot in the team.

Bringing in a new forward is surely a priority for Derby in January as, quite simply, I don't think he's the sort of player who is capable of helping the club to move up the table.