There is still a sense that, despite all of the progress achieved under Paul Warne, Derby County’s head coach has yet to see a group he can completely call his own.
The January transfer window will provide him with another opportunity to make any changes he sees fit, but this is often a stopgap to the real work that occurs in the summer.
However, the Derby squad and its evolution will be fascinating, and it will already be on the thoughts of his recruitment staff and the Sporting Intelligence section. Succession planning is critical in football, and it sometimes takes several windows before a manager is gifted with a squad that reflects their personality from back to front.
But the fundamental question is, what comes next for a team that is beginning to resemble the relentless and aggressive pressing machine he has long desired? Warne spent the summer overhauling the midfield department, loading it with tenacity, ingenuity, and physicality.
However, turning our attention to players nearing the conclusion of their contracts can provide a solid indication of what is next on the agenda. With James Collins and Conor Washington nearing the end of their contracts and Jerry Yates on loan until May, his striker roster appears to be ripe for change.
A temporary solution could be on the cards in January, especially after Derby failed to sign a forward on deadline day and Warne recognized what he needs in a mobile target man. But, after two years at the club and celebrating his anniversary last Sunday, how many windows will it take to achieve Warne’s vision? His response demonstrated that he had already considered the matter.
“Another couple, ideally,” he told Derbyshire Live. “When we arrived, we inherited a very strong squad. However, this is always the case when a new manager takes over; for example, at Liverpool, someone has inherited Jurgen Klopp’s team. I’m not saying it’s not a good team, but there are probably some nuances he (Arne Slot) would like to see in it, which is similar to me and our coaching staff.
“There’s a guy we like, and I believe our front line is currently set up the way I prefer. I want a target guy, certainly, since you need multiple ways to play, but he must be mobile. But I think another window or two, and to be honest, if we had stayed in League One that summer, we might have been able to manipulate it to seem like, in our judgment, a League One team.
“But then when you go up, it feels like you have to do even more work, if that makes sense, so I still believe it’s two windows away. But then you operate within your budget, your constraints, and all that.”
