Derby County should be plotting Reading FC raid if Championship spot is secured: View | OneFootball

League One has been littered with ex-Premier League sides this season including two former top flight sides, Derby County and Reading FC.

It has been a contrasting season for the two sides, with Derby currently sitting in the top two and looking likely for automatic promotion back to the Championship at the second time of asking, while Reading have been languishing down at the wrong end of the table, flirting with relegation and being plagued with financial turmoil and point deductions.

Now that we are reaching season's end, however, Derby could look to take advantage of Reading's troubles and make a move for one of their starring attackers, Sam Smith.

Sam Smith's story so far

The striker returned to Reading last summer following a two-year spell at former loan club Cambridge United.

Having come through at the Royals, the striker was sent on numerous loan spells up and down the country, experiencing mixed success, but found a home with The U's. Over both his loan spell and permanent stay with the Cambridgeshire club, he would amass 143 appearances and score 43 goals.

Since arriving back on a free last summer, the striker has pretty much helped secure his boyhood side another season of League One football, netting 12 league goals so far this term, half of which have come in the last ten games.

This includes a strike against the aforementioned Derby County, who will have no doubt been keeping an eye on the striker during their 2-1 triumph over the Royals on 12th March.

Derby County's summer spruce up

Last week, we ruminated about Derby County potentially making a loan move for Crystal Palace youth sensation Zack Marsh.

While that transfer would certainly freshen up the attacking options that Paul Warne has going forwards, it would be a big risk asking a young talent to come in and help provide goals in a league as physical and challenging as the Championship in what would be his first taste of elite men's football.

Therefore, Warne should target the 6ft 1in Reading striker instead of, or as well as, the Palace youngster.

The Royals man is certainly a focal point for any team he goes on to play as he has, according to FotMob, won 83% of his aerial duels this season and achieved an impressive 68% shot accuracy across his appearances this season for Ruben Selles' side.

Additionally, the Manchester-born striker would bring a good amount of pace to a Derby side that has looked lethargic at times this season.

Typically deployed in Selles' system all across the front three at times, the attacker could combine well with the likes of Nathaniel Mendez-Laing and Tom Barkuizen and create lightning-fast counter-attacks late on in games next season, something that Derby have struggled to do with their current frontline.

The Championship is slowly becoming a division where fast-paced, free-flowing football is played by some very exciting young footballers, so if Derby were to maintain the aging strikeforce they have, they could struggle to adapt to a forever modernising league, meaning a move for Smith may become a necessity.

Add to the above the fact that the forward would significantly help bring down the age of the current attacking options at the club, with the Englishman having recently celebrated his 26th Birthday, and the transfer does make serious sense on the Rams' part.

Sales would provide relief for Reading

It is no secret that Reading have spent the entirety of this season, plus the past 3 years or so, in financial struggles.

Controversial owner Dai Yongge took charge of the club back in 2017, and despite initial hopes that the state-of-the-art Bearwood Park training ground and multiple large transfer outlays would help take the club to a new level, the opposite has now occurred.

The COVID-19 pandemic first highlighted the troubles Reading FC were in under Yongge, with their 21/22 financial records severely breaking the EFL's Profit and Sustainability Rules (PSR), which resulted in a six-point deduction for the side at the time, plunging them into the Championship relegation zone and giving Reading fans the first of many red flags about their owner.

Since then, there have been multiple late payments of wages and HMRC taxes, as well as limited funding for any transfer windows, which saw multiple fan protests and finally resulted in the EFL issuing a statement in January ordering Dai Yongge to sell or fund the 153-year-old club.

Now, focusing back on Smith and any potential sale, while the Royal's would hate to lose a player they only re-signed a year ago, the transfer may help alleviate any potential financial worries.

That is only if he is sold for a high price, however, and with no real knowledge of the state of the club's finances in the past few months, Derby, Warne and the Rams' new owners could look to strike a quick and cheap deal and leave Reading feeling robbed.

So, with the Royal's looking fairly set to spend another season in League One and, for the moment, remaining in financial turmoil, the writing is on the wall in terms of their ability to keep their popular striker around.

Plus, with Derby County searching for an omen to help freshen up their frontline, Sam Smith could very well be on the move this summer.