Derby County have been urged to make a number of League One deals, including Huddersfield Town centre-back Michael Helik, in order to strengthen their backline following Friday’s 4-2 defeat at Blackburn Rovers.
The Rams frequently used a back-five in League One, but during the 2024/25 Championship opener, they fielded a flat four of Kane Wilson, Curtis Nelson, Eiran Cashin, and Callum Elder.
Paul Warne’s team held their own for much of the game at Ewood Park, drawing level with 23 minutes remaining after Nelson converted a Nathaniel Mendez-Laing corner, but they quickly capitulated, allowing three times in ten minutes to fall 4-1 behind.
Wilson equalized for the visitors in the dying moments, but it was too little, too late.
Though Friday’s thrashing may appear to be a simple baptism of fire after securing promotion from League One the previous season, Derby’s lack of defensive mettle was demonstrated on more than one occasion during their pre-season preparations, when they lost 4-0 and 4-3 to Chesterfield and Barnsley, respectively.
As a result, Derby have been instructed to seek a number of newcomers from the league in which they were promoted to bolster Warne’s defensive line in the future.
Derby County told to consider Josh Earl, Michal Helik transfer moves
Derby fans were startled by how quickly Blackburn tore apart the defence, and FLW’s resident Rams fan analyst Shaun Woodward hopes it will drive Warne to act on the transfer front, with a number of players he has highlighted as potential targets.
“As we showed against Blackburn and to be honest in pre-season, shipping an average of three goals a game over the last five or six games [is poor], I know they’re only friendlies before the Blackburn game but even so, you don’t want to be conceding goals like we are,” Shaun told Football League World.
“Especially when Warne prides himself on his defensive capabilities and his team are normally hard to beat, so he’ll be bitterly disappointed behind the scenes at how easily we’re shipping goals.