The 2021/22 season looks like it will be a rather tricky one for Derby County.

Having only avoided relegation from the Championship on the final day of last season, and with some well documented financial issues meaning it will not be easy for them to do business this summer, there are plenty of challenges for them to navigate in the coming campaign.

That therefore, will be a big test of Wayne Rooney's managerial credentials at Pride Park, and you do feel as though the Rams would certainly benefit from having his sort of goalscoring abilities available to turn to on the pitch in the coming months.

But how have some of Derby's own leading scorers fared over the course of the past few years, and what impact has that had on the club.

Here, in order to find out, we've taken a look at Derby's top goalscorer from each of the last ten seasons, according to Transfermarkt.

The 2011/12 season was not one in which the Rams really saw one individual come to the fore in terms of goals, as evidenced by the record of their leading scorer that campaign, Steve Davis.

The forward found the net 12 times in the league that season for Derby, although he did only feature in 26 games during the course of the campaign, meaning you wonder what his tally could have been, had he featured in a greater percentage of the Rams' games that season.

Ultimately, Derby finished that campaign 12th in the Championship, in what would prove to be Davis' final season with the club, as he joined Bristol City that summer.

The following season again saw Derby's scoring charts topped by a player who played just over half of the club's league games.

Jamie Ward featured in just 25 games of the Rams' 46 league outings that season, but his 12 goals were still enough to see him claim the club's Golden Boot once the season had drawn to a close.

Those contributions from Ward were enough to Derby to tenth in the Championship table, although they fell well short of a play-off place, while Ward, who had made a loan move to Pride Park from Sheffield United permanent in the summer of 2011, remained with the club until 2015.

The 2013/14 campaign would prove to be a more successful, but ultimately agonising, one for Derby County, and Chris Martin was right at the heart of it.

In what was his first season as a permanent Derby player, Martin scored 20 goals in 44 league outings, to guide the Rams to third in the Championship table, seven points adrift of automatic promotion in the final standings.

Martin added two more goals to his tally as Derby thrashed Brighton in the play-off semi finals, only to miss out on promotion to Bobby Zamora's dramatic last minute winner for QPR in that season's play-off final at Wembley.

Once again, Chris Martin would prove to be a key figure in front of goal for Derby during the course of the 2014/15 campaign.

The centre forward scored 18 goals in 35 league outings for the Rams that season, a return that is just better than a goal every other game, as the Scot continued to impress during his time at Pride Park.

But despite Martin continuing to be a reliable source of goals upfront for County, they were unable to quite match their form of the season before, as they were forced to settle for an eighth place finish in the Championship table, missing out on the play-off places by a single point.

Although his record in front of goal was not quite as prolific for Derby during the 2015/16 season, Martin was still able to claim a third straight Pride Park Golden Boot.

The Scot eventually ended the campaign having scored 15 goals in 45 Championship outings for the club, which works out at a rather respectable record of exactly one goal in every three appearances.

Despite that slight drop in Martin's return, Derby were able to force their back into the Championship's top six with a fifth place finish, although they were comfortably 5-0 on aggregate by Hull City over the two legs of the play-off semi final.

Having joined Derby on loan Hull midway through the 2014/15 season, Tom Ince quickly made himself a regular source of goals from the wide areas for the Rams, earning himself a permanent Pride Park move in the summer of 2015.

It was the 2016/17 season however, when Ince came to the fore, as he enjoyed his most prolific campaign in Derby colours, scoring 14 goals in 45 league outings to end the season top of the club's scoring charts.

But despite his efforts, Derby were unable to claim a play-off place this season, finishing ninth in the Championship standings, some 13 points adrift of a top six spot.

Vydra had already enjoyed two prolific seasons in the Championship with Watford by the time he joined Derby from the Hornets in the summer of 2016.

But after an underwhelming debut campaign at Pride Park, the 2017/18 season saw Vydra well and truly rediscover that form, as he found the net 21 times in 40 Championship outings, helping the club reclaim a play-off spot with a sixth place finish.

But after defeat to Fulham in the semi-finals prevented them from a shot at promotion, Vydra got his step up to the Premier League in the summer of 2018 anyway, completing a move to top-flight side Burnley.

There would be more play-off heartbreak to come for Derby during the 2018/19 campaign, and this time, it was a young Premier League loanee leading the charge for the Rams.

Joining on a temporary basis from Liverpool during the summer of 2018, Harry Wilson enjoyed an outstanding campaign at Pride Park, which included leading the club's scoring charts, thanks in no small part to 15 goals in 40 league games.

That was enough to secure sixth in the Championship table for Derby, but despite their dramatic semi-final win over Leeds, the Rams again missed out on promotion, this time thanks to a 2-1 defeat to Aston Villa in the final at Wembley.

Having joined Derby from Ipswich during the 2018 summer transfer window, it was the 2019/20 season when Martyn Waghorn really stepped up for the Rams in the scoring charts.

Across the course of his second season at Pride Park top scored for the club, thanks to his return of 12 goals in 43 league games for the club, who at that point were under the management of Phillip Cocu.

But despite those efforts of Waghorn, the play-offs would prove out of reach of Derby during that particular campaign, as they finished tenth in the Championship table, six points off the top six, at the end of that pandemic-interrupted season.

The last season, the play-offs were a long away from the thoughts of those associated with Derby for the vast majority of the campaign.

One slight bright spot of a season that saw Derby battle against relegation for the most part - only avoiding the drop to League One on the final day - was Colin Kazim-Richards.

Joining on a one-year deal in the summer 0f 2020, the veteran striker finished top of the club's scoring charts with a return of eight goals in 38 league outings for the club, with his efforts in helping to keep the club up enough to earn him an extended contract for the upcoming 2021/22 season.