Derby County struggle after aborted takeover leaves squad short as season begins

Derby County have lost five of their eight Championship games this season at Pride Park after Turki Alalshikh pulled out of a planned takeover in August, leaving the club with five points from eight matches and inside the relegation zone. Mo Fuseini's last‑gasp goal at Burnley this month rescued a point and prevented Derby entering the international break bottom of the table.

John Eustace was appointed in February 2025 when Derby were fourth-from-bottom and left Blackburn, who were fifth at the time, for a club in a relegation battle; he had been presented with a long-term plan of survival, consolidation and then pushing for a top-flight return. The planned takeover by Alalshikh collapsed an hour before completion in August, which the club says disrupted summer preparations despite owner David Clowes remaining committed to bankrolling the team. Derby chief executive Stephen Pearce denied recruitment was harmed, saying: "From a transfer perspective we hadn't lost anything we wanted to do," he told BBC Radio Derby. Eustace acknowledged they had to reassess targets after the takeover fell through, telling the Derby Telegraph: "Obviously, we had our targets that we were looking at and who we wanted to bring in," and: "When the takeover eventually didn't happen, we've lost a lot of momentum on players that we were looking at."

Transfer activity was affected on deadline day: Eustace had targeted Liam Millar but Birmingham City signed the Hull City forward on loan for the season, and Derby instead moved for Mo Fuseini from Union Saint-Gilloise, a player who had been due to join Birmingham before Millar's arrival. Ben Brereton-Diaz, who scored eight goals in 41 games for Derby on loan last season, could not be secured quickly enough and subsequently committed to Sheffield United after returning to Southampton. Wages proved a stumbling block in attempts to sign Birmingham winger Patrick Roberts.

Several loan returns and permanent buys reflected the disrupted market: none of the players on loan last season had options to buy, forcing renegotiations and exposing Derby to market forces. Bobby Clark arrived from Red Bull Salzburg for £6m, David Ozoh was re‑signed for £4m on deadline day after Crystal Palace had valued him at £10m at the start of August, and Sammie Szmodics has met the conditions to make his £2.7m move from Ipswich permanent. Clark, Ozoh and Szmodics were influential last term but their returns have been described as returning the squad to the same level rather than providing a significant upgrade.

Striking cover has been an issue: Pisa loanee Henrik Meister, who has scored just twice in a year, was brought in as back‑up to Carlton Morris and Patrick Agyemang but has had to lead the line with both absent; the 22‑year‑old Dane then suffered a head injury against Birmingham this month. Agyemang has been out since April with a serious Achilles problem, having suffered an Achilles injury against Stoke in April which sidelined him for the World Cup.

Defensive injuries have compounded Derby's problems, with reigning player of the season Matt Clarke unlikely to return before December and goalkeeper Jacob Widell Zetterstrom out for six weeks. Brighton loanee Eiran Cashin is sidelined and Derry Murkin, expected to be first‑choice at left‑back, is out until after Christmas, meaning Eustace has been unable to field the same back four in successive games since August. The head coach and club have been described as unlucky, with Eustace "left powerless and having to continue to firefight 20 months after joining."

There had been an expectation of a promotion push this season, with eighth place regarded as enough for a play-off spot and an achievable target, but Derby's current campaign is mirroring last season's slow start after eight points from the opening 10 games. Last term's final 36-game form, if averaged across the whole season, "would have been enough to finish fifth rather than ending eighth, four points adrift of the top six," the club note, and Eustace's job is said not to be under threat; he was sacked by Birmingham when they were sixth in 2023 before the Blues were relegated after appointing Wayne Rooney, and he guided Blackburn to safety in 2023-24 before leaving them in the play-off places.

Derby host Wrexham on Saturday, and the club say Eustace needs the pieces to fall into place again to arrest their poor start and climb out of the relegation positions.