Former Brighton player, Keith Andrews, has given his honest verdict on Matt Clarke's start to life at Derby County, since joining on loan in the summer.

Clarke joined the Rams on a season-long loan deal after signing for Premier League side Brighton from Portsmouth in the summer transfer window.

The 22-year-old will be hoping to get the relative experience in order to make sure he can become a regular for the Seagulls in the future.

At the Rams, he has experienced head, Richard Keogh, around for advice on different parts of his game as well as facing competition from recent signing Krystian Bielik.

Andrews has expressed how important the loan move will be for Clarke, and how impressive he was in his opening fixture against Huddersfield.

Speaking to brightonandhovealbion.com, Andrews said: “When you look at his development at this stage in his career, he’s had to work his way up through the leagues too.

“He was the exceptional player in League One, he was a great leader and is a player who relishes the defensive side of the game whilst also being comfortable on the ball.

“With the central defending options that Brighton have in place at the moment, the move made absolute sense. His first game against Huddersfield was outstanding, given the fact that he’d only been with the group at Derby County for a couple of days.

“It’s never easy to settle but he already looks the part and it’s another good stage in his development."

The Verdict

Keith Andrews is spot on, and it's a great loan move for the inexperienced centre-back. He had a great season for Portsmouth last year and it was time for him to push up a league.

Brighton were the side to sign him, but they felt he wasn't ready for Premier League football yet and made the smart decision to loan him out to a Championship in order to continue his development.

Cocu will have to try and work out who his favoured centre-halves are, because at the moment he has three very good ones, but they only play with two.