Derby County supporters may be frustrated as news of Premier League club circling emerges | OneFootball

Highlights

Former Derby County young wing-back Festy Ebosele could be set for an expensive Premier League move just 18 months after leaving Pride Park on a free transfer.

The Rams were relegated from the Championship at the end of the 2021/22 season after they entered administration and suffered a points deduction, leading many players to depart the club that summer.

One of those players was promising wing-back Ebosele, who, despite receiving advice from then-manager Wayne Rooney to stay in English football, left for Serie A Udinese in the summer.

Ebosele impressed in his breakout season at Pride Park

That season, aged just 19, he got his first experience of consistent senior football, starting 20 games in all competitions and racking up a further 17 appearances off the bench, following his promotion from Derby's academy system.

Having been deducted a total of 21 points by November 2021, the chances of Derby's survival seemed slim, and they were relegated as expected at the end of the season.

That left talented young players with a predicament, almost certainly facing League One football the following season and with many, like Ebosele, out of contract in the summer.

The Irish wing-back chose to depart the club to test himself at a higher level, along with fellow young Rams Lee Buchanan and Malcolm Ebiowei, who left under similar circumstances.

Ebosele agreed a pre-contract deal with the Italian side in March 2022 and left that summer upon the expiry of his Derby contract.

The former Rams star struggled to make the same impact in his first season in Italy, making the vast majority of his appearances from the bench.

However, this season he has managed to work his way into Serie A side, starting 16 of Udinese's 19 league games so far, and being subbed on in the remaining three.

According to Charlie Gordon of the Express, that has stirred interest in a number of Premier League outfits and, whilst Ebosele is not actively seeking a move, he would be open to a switch if he was guaranteed minutes by any potential suitor.

With his Udinese contract running until the summer of 2027, according to Transfermarkt, the ball is firmly in the Italian side's court. His increased experience, top flight pedigree and the side's reliance on him this season will all surely add up to produce an eye-watering transfer fee, comfortably running into the millions, just months after departing Pride Park for nothing.

Derby supporters will regret big fee not heading their way

Should this Premier League interest materialise into a move, it will likely leave a bitter taste in the mouths of Rams fans, with Ebosele turning out at Pride Park still fresh in the mind and his move little over a year ago.

Had he followed Rooney's advice, signed a new deal at the club and looked for a move elsewhere at this point, his transfer fee would have delivered invaluable help to the Rams charge for League One promotion in the second half of this season, with them currently sat in fourth position.

Without top flight European experience, there is no doubt he would have commanded a smaller fee, but it still likely would have been somewhat comparable with the money that could be on offer this month and the Rams would have benefitted from his talent over the course of the last two campaigns.

Nobody can blame Ebosele for wanting to make the switch at that time, but a substantial move now is sure to leave Derby fans wondering what could have been.