Derby County may have been given a boost in their pursuit of Charlie Austin this transfer window with Slaven Bilic revealing he is keen to get some players off of the books at West Brom in the final days of the market.

The Rams have had a slow start to the season this year in the Sky Bet Championship and will be looking to put that right with them taking on Norwich City shortly.

Indeed, it's a big game for them but, regardless of result, you feel as though they could add further before the two respective deadlines in this window.

Austin, as per the Express and Star, is of interest to the men from Pride Park, then, and Bilic has revealed that it would be an ideal plan to see some of his fringe players now leave, including the striker.

He said, as quoted by Yorkshire Live:

"That would be good. That’s also an important part of the transfer window, not only because of the budget and it would ease the wages, but because it’s not good to have a squad too big, who’d continue to train after the transfer window shuts.

“We’ll see. They have their contracts, the players who are missing are optimistic that something is going to happen in the club."

Quiz: Can you name these 10 ex-Derby County midfielders?

The Verdict

Derby will be focused on getting a result against Norwich City this lunchtime, of course, but improvements to the squad will also still be being thought about right now.

Austin could lend a hand up top and Albion seem keen to move on some fringe players so let's see if a move materialises.