"Strong and quick" - Nottingham-born attacker tipped for Derby County breakthrough | 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 have a lot of young players who are thriving in the early stages of their career, but there is one teenager who has really impressed in the second half of this season.

Two of the Rams' best players this season, Max Bird and Eiran Cashin, are in their early 20s, and they have attracted a lot of interest.

The former was bought by Championship club Bristol City in the January transfer window for an undisclosed fee, but was loaned back to Derby as part of the agreement, and his Irish teammate has attracted attention from Premier League clubs like Brighton. He has since admitted that his failed move to the Seagulls worked out for the best, revealing his thoughts on the: "stressful," situation to the Derby Telegraph.

Even though the pairing are the two young Derby players who have received the most attention, there is another potential starlet in the making who is developing away from Pride Park. 18-year-old striker Dajaune Brown joined National League side Gateshead on loan in January, and he has had a blistering start to life in the northeast.

Football League World's County fan pundit, Shaun Woodward, believes that the teenager is the club's brightest star of the future.

Dajaune Browne: Derby's potential next best young talent

Woodward believes that the young forward could be ready for first team action, with the Rams, in the near future.

"To me it's got to be Brown. He's gone out on loan, he scored a brace last week, and he's got six goals in 14 league appearances. Yes, it's a big step-up for him to go from Conference level to potentially the Championship, but he's 18, he's raw, he looks strong and quick. I think he's someone that would always keep defenders honest.

"I think he's someone that would excite the fans, and I'd love to see him start to be in and amongst the squad in pre-season, and then they can see where he's at. He's got plenty of years ahead of him, but he's someone that I think excites most of our fanbase, and we'd like to see him in and around our squad next season."

First team opportunities at Derby could come soon for Dajaune Brown

County are on the cusp of returning to the Championship, which would mean an even bigger step-up for the 18-year-old than the one that would currently present itself. But, with the age of the club's current set of strikers, an opportunity could arise.

Derby's three main forwards - James Collins (33), Martyn Waghorn (34), and Dwight Gayle (34) - don't have that long left in their footballing careers, if history is anything to go by. Their contracts with the club are also all set to expire at the end of the season.

The physical traits that Brown would bring, coupled with his ability to find the back of the net, is something that Derby don't have in their current options. The one thing you also need to see in these young players, if they're going to be top contributors, is consistency. That's usually a pretty good marker for what sort of future lies ahead of a talented teen. Brown has been nothing short of that marker over the past month.

Like the FLW'sDerby fan pundit said, it will be a big step-up in level, especially if Brown's parent club get promoted to the second tier. But there are definitely signs that he could be their next big prospect.