Derby County urged to swerve Ipswich Town transfer agreement | OneFootball

Derby County's FLW fan pundit has urged Derby to be cautious over their interest in Ipswich Town captain Sam Morsy.

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 are beginning their first pre-season under the management of John Eustace, who led the Rams to survival on the final day of the campaign after being appointed in mid-March.

The club will be seeking to properly assert themselves and re-establish themselves as a Championship stalwart again, having gained promotion from League One at the end of the 2023/24 campaign.

As they prepare for another campaign in the second-tier, Eustace and his Derby side are being busy in the summer transfer window, and there is reported interest from the Rams in Ipswich Town club captain Sam Morsy.

Derby should avoid Morsy move

Despite the fact that Morsy would represent a bit of a coup, at least to many neutrals, and the fact there is some recognition that he is a good player, FLW’s Derby County fan pundit Shaun Woodward has warned County against a move for the Egypt international.

Shaun said: “Sam Morsy is a great player and very good at what he does, someone who you would want in your side. He’s a real leader and does the ugly side of the game really well.

“However, firstly I can’t see him leaving Ipswich to come to Derby and, secondly, we need to be looking at players who are five, ten years younger than him.

“We’ve signed (Carlton) Morris, who is around 30 years’ old, we’ve signed Danny Batth, who again is in his 30s, and we already had the oldest squad in the league last season, and we really need to be bringing in younger players.

“We’ve got so many players that are 30 or over so we really need to be bringing the age of the squad down.

“Good player, but I think for a club like Derby, we need to be looking two or three years ahead now and I think Morsy would be a one season gap-filler and we have got enough of those players already.

“I can’t see him moving to us but, again, even if I could then I think we need to be looking at players are much younger and actually have a sell-on value, and who could be in and around the squad for years to come.”

The veteran squad of Derby

Morsy, who is 33 and turns 34 just over a month into the 2025/26 season, would be among an already ageing group at Pride Park, and that hasn’t necessarily been helped by their additions this summer.

The last few years, especially under Paul Warne, has seen Derby favour experience in their recruitment strategy and that has continued this summer under Eustace, too.

Morris has arrived from Luton Town for an undisclosed fee, whilst Danny Batth has joined on a free transfer alongside 36-year-old Richie O’Donnell and 33-year-old Andreas Weimann.

Morris turns 30 mid-way through the campaign, whilst Batth will be 35 in mid-to-late-September; and they join a squad that already boasts several ageing and experienced players.

36-year-old defender Craig Forsyth, a former teammate of Eustace with the Rams, has recently signed a new deal, whilst Josh Vickers, Curtis Nelson, Ben Osborn, Ebou Adams, Lars-Jorgen Salvesen, Joe Ward, Callum Elder and Kayden Jackson are all already 30 or will turn 30 during the season.