Derby County have suffered a blow to their hopes of finally bringing an end to their search for new owners with reports emerging that Easdale brothers are pulling out of the race.

The Rams are in desperate need of fining new owners but this latest development with Easdale brothers means that they are going to have wait while longer and face more uncertainty over the coming days and weeks.

It would have been hoped, and still will be, that Derby could get their ownership situation sorted ahead of the January transfer window. That is potentially the only way that Wayne Rooney is going to be able to try and add to his squad if permitted and also keep hold of his best players.

At the moment, Derby have done enough with their performances and results this season to just about keep themselves in with a chance of surviving the drop this term. However, that slim chance could disappear in January if they can not invest in the squad and if they also lose one or two of their prized assets.

There has been talk over numerous players at Derby including the likes of Max Bird, Jason Knight and Louie Sibley in terms of the ones that could attract transfer interest from elsewhere.

One more player that perhaps is only just starting to really catch the eye that the Rams also need to worry about losing is Festy Ebosele. He has managed to make a breakthrough into the side in recent months and Rooney has started to put more and more faith in him to affect games for the Rams.

Ebosele's raw talent could be moulded into a very effective and exciting attacking option for the Rams as Rooney has recently suggested himself to the media. Last time out against Millwall he showed that his manager has been right to move him higher up the pitch by opening his account for the club as Derby picked up an important point.

The major issue is that Ebosele sees his current Derby deal expire at the end of the season. At the moment in the absence of a takeover the Rams might not be in a strong enough financial position to extend that contract and ensure they keep hold of him for the long-term.

Therefore, other clubs might potentially look to take advantage and try and get him signed in the winter window on a reduced fee. Losing Ebosle would be a blow for the Rams in the long-term because he is showing a lot of promising signs about the type of player he could develop into in the coming years.

It seems that unless Derby are taken over by new owners soon that they might be forced into letting Ebosele go, because losing him on a free transfer for a low tribunal fee due to his age would not represent good value at all for his potential.

These kind of situations are why it is such a huge blow for the Rams that Easdale brothers have now pulled out of investing into the club. It is not something that they can not recover from, but times is running out to secure new owners before the vital winter window.