"He is everything we have lacked" - Derby County urged to sign Cardiff City player | 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 needed to strengthen in January in order to maintain their promotion push.

The Rams are currently in a fight for an automatic promotion spot with Bolton Wanderers and Barnsley, only being behind league leaders Portsmouth.

To boost their promotion hopes, the Rams brought in Corey Blackett-Taylor and Ebou Adams on loan in January, and Dwight Gayle in February.

But it has been Adams who has stolen the spotlight at Pride Park, adding some steel and energy to Paul Warne’s midfield.

Cardiff City, having only made three starts for them in the Championship in the first half of the season.

Having now impressed for Derby in his first seven games, questions are now being asked about a potential permanent move in the summer.

Ebou Adams is a deal Derby need to do

Football League World’s Derby County Fan Pundit Shaun Woodward has expressed his desire for Derby to try and sign Adams permanently in the summer, especially if they are promoted to the Championship. However, he does also stress that his form may attract interest from current Championship sides.

Speaking to FLW, he said: “Ebou Adams is definitely someone we should be targeting in the summer. He is everything we have lacked this season and last season. Desire, work rate, box to box, gets stuck in, loves a challenge, loves the fight in the middle of the park. Will give it simple, can play a bit as well.”

“I think obviously we still cannot be going around splashing cash, but I think half a million (£500k), I think if we could offer them that (it would be enough). The problem we are going to have is because he has played so well for us, if we do not go up, there is likely Championship clubs that will be sniffing around, or Cardiff would actually look at him and go ‘you know what, he’s probably better than what we have got’.

“So hopefully that won’t be the case and we can keep him because he’s obviously enjoying his time at Derby. The fans love him, and he’s playing in front of big crowds, and hopefully he can be part of our promotion-winning side, and then we get to keep him.”

Adams has turned out to be a brilliant signing so far.

The 28-year-old has been the defensive minded midfielder that Derby had been crying out for.

Having Adams in the midfield has now allowed Max Bird to go further forward and express himself - which is shown in Bird’s two goals and two assists in the seven games he has started alongside Adams.

But when it comes to Adams it is all about his defensive work. On average he wins 8.72 duels per 90, which is just one of his standout stats.

The Gambia international’s contract at Cardiff is not set to expire until next summer, so it would take a fee for Derby to take him on a permanent deal.

But based on his current form, if he keeps this up for the rest of the season, and Derby are promoted, it would be a no-brainer for the Rams to bring Adams back permanently.