Reason why Derby County are signing Liverpool player should excite Rams fans | OneFootball

Owen Beck is set to spend next season on loan in the Championship with Derby, and his reported reason for choosing the Rams should excite supporters.

Derby County are set to sign the Liverpool left-back Owen Back on loan for the 2025-26 season, and the reason why he's chosen the club should set fans' pulses racing.

Derby County are undergoing a summer of change following their narrow escape with relegation from the Championship at the end of the 2024-25 season.

The Rams only escaped relegation on the final day of the season, and great hope is being put into head coach to improve substantially upon last season's 19th-placed finish.

Five new players have already arrived at Pride Park this summer, and there are now reports that a sixth is due to be confirmed by the club with the arrival of left-back Owen Beck from Liverpool.

Beck spent the 2024-25 season on loan at Blackburn Rovers and had been linked with a possible move north of the border to play for Rangers.

But this doesn't seem to be happening. There had been reports that Beck was in talks over a £10 million move to Ibrox, but instead Beck is now expected to spend another season in the Championship, this time with Derby County, and the reported reasons behind why he's chosen to stay in England with this particular club are quite revealing.

Owen Beck is keen to work with John Eustace again

The Telegraph's John Percy has reported on X that Beck is to undergo a medical with Derby this week ahead of a loan deal which will take the player to Pride Park, and he reports that the reason for this happening is that the player is "very keen" to work with John Eustace again.

Having been appointed at Ewood Park in February 2024, Eustace was in charge at Blackburn when Beck arrived at the club in the summer of 2024. \

Eustace left the club the following February to assume the then-vacant position at Pride Park, and it is telling that the player appears to have been so keen to reunite with the coach.

Beck flourished under Eustace at Blackburn

Owen Beck's loan to Blackburn last season was widely regarded as a success, with the left-back making 24 appearances in the first team and scoring one goal.

There were reports that Liverpool were "thrilled" with the player's development under Eustace at Pride Park, and even that the English champions might consider moving him into their first-team squad if other players moved on.

This, however, hasn't happened.

A permanent move to Glasgow was a possibility, with a previous successful loan spell with Dundee cited as a possible reason for the move. But the Scottish Sun has reported that "when those links first emerged that it was a deal that was always unlikely to happen", and it now seems almost certain that he'll be heading back to the Championship, this time with Derby County.

This should excite Derby fans, and for more than one reason.

Firstly, and most obviously, they will be getting an excellent young prospect who has looked seriously impressive on his previous loan spells away from Anfield. Beck will be a quality addition to their squad.

But there's also a second, slightly less obvious, reason, which is what it says about John Eustace that a player who was described as a "super talent" by Jurgen Klopp should be so keen to reunite with him.

There is an implicit level of praise in Eustace to be found in the decision itself.

Beck clearly feels that the progress that he made with the Derby boss was to his benefit, to such an extent that, when presented with a range of options for the summer, this was the club that he chose.

It's not the first time that this has been said of Eustace. When his move to Pride Park in February started to look like it was set to become a reality, the Derby Telegraph wrote that, "it’s clear Eustace is a driver of good standards and players seem to enjoy working with him and respect him".

If Eustace's man-management skills are such that players of the quality of Owen Beck want to work with him, then Derby supporters can reflect upon the possibility that they've not just got an excellent young prospect for the new season, but the right person to manage him, too.