John Eustace is landing a Derby County star on one big condition | OneFootball

Derby County's head coach will be hoping the Crystal Palace loanee has put one major issue behind him

Derby County head coach John Eustace only saw David Ozoh on the pitch once last season, and will be hoping the Crystal Palace loanee has put one major issue behind him for the 25/26 season.

Ozoh has re-joined the Rams on another season-long loan, perhaps the start to answering Eustace's loudest summer demand for more bodies in the engine room.

Upon the 20-year-old coming back to Moor Farm, Ozoh told Rams TV what was going through his mind, "I was just excited to be back, felt like I had unfinished business - just happy to be back."

Eustace, who was appointed in February and mastered Derby's great escape, will undoubtedly be hoping that Ozoh's power and ball-carrying ability can give his side more control of games in midfield - the Rams' average possession last season was 43.4%, the fourth-lowest in the division.

David Ozoh tells Derby County he has "unfinished business"

Ozoh only managed 12 appearances across all competitions last term, and was stretchered off with a thigh injury against Millwall in the last minute of normal time - the Lions went on to win the game 1-0.

It was only his fifth appearance back after being sidelined for four months with muscle issues. Eustace described Ozoh as a "fantastic player" to BBC Radio Derby, continuing to say "In my short period of working with him, you can see he has great qualities."

Derby fans remember the way he bullied a Bristol City midfield that consisted of former Rams Jason Knight and Max Bird, in a 3-0 win at Pride Park, with one supporter on social media saying the club have been crying out for someone like Ozoh to control the game.

That feeling is reciprocated by Ozoh, as he said the fans are the thing that excites him most about returning to Derby, in a quickfire questions video.

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Eustace's decision to leave play-off-chasing Blackburn Rovers for a relegation fight in February was surely painted as reckless by some, but he kept Derby up with six wins in his final 14 games - immediately speaking of top-flight ambitions over a three-year period.

Having obviously worked with Eustace for a short while last season, Ozoh mentioned in his interview that he only ever wanted to go back to Derby this season.

Obviously, the 20-year-old is only back for another temporary spell, but Eustace will know that a fully fit Ozoh would cost an extortionate amount, so the head coach seems willing to gamble that he can manage the player better than Paul Warne.

Keeping Ozoh on the pitch is the main concern

It's pretty evident that the main issue with Ozoh is keeping him injury-free because of the two long-term issues that he suffered last year. But before that, the midfielder had played 51 times for Palace's academy and 13 games for their first team without any reported problems.

The bigger issue could have been with Derby's way of managing players last season. Before Eustace won against his former club Blackburn, Derby had lost all their games under him, but it wasn't really his fault.

The Rams were lacking in just about every area of the pitch, and Jerry Yates was the only fit striker for most of the season.

Of the other strikers, Dajaune Brown and Lars-Jorgen Salvesen both suffered season-ending injuries - whilst Kemar Roofe was out for a number of weeks shortly after joining.

With this in mind, it can be suggested that Paul Warne - or the fitness staff - were not managing the fitness of his players well.

Should Ozoh go on to play 30+ games next season, Eustace may have landed the bargain that will allow Derby a bit of breathing room in midfield for the 25/26 campaign. Fail - and if Ozoh is the only midfield arriving in summer - then Rams fans will surely be raising recruitment questions again.