"Definitely need to..." - Derby County fan pundit reacts as Rams enter Arsenal talks | OneFootball

This article is part of Football League World's 'Terrace Talk' series, which provides personal opinions from our FLW Fan Pundits regarding the latest breaking news, teams, players, managers, potential signings and more...

Derby County are in talks about extending the loan spell of Arsenal forward Tyreece John-Jules, as reported by Derbyshire Live.

The Rams made a slow start to this League One season, as inconsistent results meant the club already had a task on their hands in getting promoted after a few games.

However, Paul Warne has managed to rejuvenate the squad at a time when it looked like he could lose his job at Pride Park.

They have now come into this January transfer window in much better shape, and despite several arrivals during the summer, Warne will likely want some more incomings this month.

One player who arrived in the summer was Arsenal striker John-Jules; he joined on a loan deal that is set to expire in the middle of this month.

It has now been revealed that Derby are in talks with the Premier League side about extending that loan, with Warne keen for the player to stay and John-Jules himself keen to continue with Derby.

Derby County fans want to keep Tyreece John-Jules

Given the news that Derby are looking to extend John-Jules’ stay at the football club, here we asked FLW Derby County fan pundit Shaun Woodward for his thoughts on this news.

He told FLW: “John-Jules is on loan from Arsenal, we definitely need to keep him if we can.

“If he can stay fit, we've got a really good player on our hands, hopefully he can get more minutes, potentially start to start games even with (James) Collins.

“So, it could give us another option up there to play alongside Collins, and we can play a slightly different style, so yeah I would be looking at keeping him definitely.”

Tyreece John-Jules’ stats for the 2023/24 season

John-Jules came through the academy at Arsenal but has yet to play for the first team, with his time there being spent in youth sides or away on loan.

The 22-year-old has played for Lincoln City, Doncaster Rovers, Blackpool, Sheffield Wednesday, Ipswich Town, and now Derby.

The forward has struggled for regular game time during his various loan spells, with his spell at Pride Park being impacted by a serious thigh injury.

John-Jules missed 10 league games after picking up the injury two games into his loan spell. So, that has resulted in the player fighting for a place in the side, as he’s yet to start a league game for the club.

However, the Arsenal loanee has got on the scoresheet, with him grabbing a goal in the win against Port Vale after his injury lay-off. It now seems he is keen to continue at Derby, and he will hope to feature more often and add to that single goal.

Since he joined the club in the summer, Derby have yet to see the full benefit of having a player like John-Jules on loan at their club.

So, extending his stay makes perfect sense for them, as they get another six months of the player, which surely helps their chances of promotion and means that they can benefit when the striker is fully fit.

Furthermore, there’s no reason why he shouldn’t stay at Derby, as the other option is that he returns to Arsenal and either plays academy football or gets sent out on loan once again near the end of this month.