Bolton Wanderers could hold key to Derby County keeping Eiran Cashin: View | OneFootball

Highlights

The League One season looks well set for a thrilling climax in the battle for automatic promotion to the Championship.

Right now, Portsmouth look well set to claim one of the two automatic promotion places, as they sit nine points clear with just four games of the regular season still to be played.

Behind Pompey though, there is quite a battle going on for that second, all-important guaranteed spot in the Championship for next season.

That position is currently occupied by Derby County. However, they are far from secure in that position, with Bolton Wanderers just a point behind, and both teams having four league games left to play.

That therefore, is a battle that could go down to the final day, and the outcome of that contest, could potentially decide the longer-term future of one particular Derby player.

Eiran Cashin has plenty of suitors

Back in the final hours of last summer's transfer window, one player who came close to departing Pride Park, was Eiran Cashin.

Rams manager Paul Warne confirmed shortly after that point, that a move for the defender to Premier League side Brighton had fallen through on deadline day.

Since then, speculation around the future of Cashin has not gone away. Instead, numerous other Premier League and Championship clubs have been credited with an interest in the defender over the course of the campaign.

With that in mind, what Bolton Wanderers are now able to do in their promotion battle with Derby County in the coming weeks, could also have a big impact on how the summer transfer window itself plays out.

Derby may need promotion to keep Cashin

If Bolton manage to overhaul their one-point deficit to Derby in the next four games, that would leave Warne's side facing the lottery of the play-offs.

As we have seen many times over the years, there is no guarantee of winning promotion from that position, particularly if, as Derby would be, you are the side who has slipped into the play-offs, after missing out on automatic promotion late in the campaign.

Should that happen, then it will raise some serious questions about what comes next for Cashin.

If Derby are promoted, then the financial windfall they will receive, combined with the fact he now has a contract at Pride Park that is set to run until the end of the 2026/27 season, they will be under no pressure to sell him.

Indeed, a return to the Championship may also provide Cashin with the sense that he is at the right club to progress with, for the time being at least, and reduce any desire from him to make a move in the summer.

By contrast, if Derby were to be beaten by Bolton in the race for promotion, it is hard to imagine they would be able to retain the services of the 22-year-old.

Given the level of interest there is in him, it is hard to imagine a player of Cashin's ability would be willing to remain at a League One club for another year, when he knows he has opportunities to move elsewhere.

From a financial perspective as well, failure to win promotion could put pressure on the Rams to accept an offer for Cashin, to fill the void left by the finances they would miss out on if they do not return to the Championship.

Indeed, a significant number of Derby players will be out of contract at Pride Park come the end of this season, and will need to be replaced in the summer, if the club are to remain competitive.

That will be harder to do as a League One team, then if they are in the Championship. Raising some funds through the sale of Cashin, could potentially therefore help when it comes to the management of the squad as a whole, even if it means them losing a key individual asset.

So given the impact that it could have on his future amid so much interest from elsewhere, there is a good chance there will be plenty more clubs taking an interest in the League One promotion fight between Derby County and Bolton Wanderers, over the course of the next few weeks.