Chris Kirchner will be given until 5pm on Friday to finalise his deal to buy Derby County.

The American businessman was named as the preferred bidder last month and despite an agreement appearing to be extremely close, it has stalled late on as new issues arose in recent days.

There has been conflicting reports as to whether Kirchner will be able to push through with the agreement but BBC Derby have revealed that the administrators intend to give him until tomorrow evening to get everything sorted, although they have started talking to 'interested parties' in case it falls through.

"Chris Kirchner has been given a 5pm deadline on Friday to complete his deal to buy Derby County out of administration. Quantuma have taken the decision to engage with other interested parties as a contingency measure."

Mike Ashley is one of those who had been keen on doing a deal and it was reported today that he remains willing to buy the east Midlands outfit if it's possible and wants talks with those involved.

The verdict

This is an interesting development for Derby and the fans will be waiting for updates on Friday as they wait to see if Kirchner can get the deal sorted.

The one positive is that there is still interest if his deal doesn't happen, with Ashley seemingly ready to step in if the opportunity comes us.

So, it's now down to Kirchner to get this done and the good thing for Derby fans is that with the deadline at 5pm they shouldn't have to wait too long to get a clearer picture of what the situation is.

Thoughts? Let us know in the comments below.