Warne plans Euro raid to strengthen his squad
PAUL Warne has outlined the plans already in place to improve his squad before Derby County return to the Championship in August.
The Rams secured promotion on the final day of the League One season with a comfortable 2-0 home victory over Carlisle United, having averaged two points a match across the 46-game calendar.
It ends a two-year stay in the third tier and now the focus is on getting the squad ready for the return to the Championship.
Head coach Warne, who has plenty of calls to make in the first instance when it comes to resolving the futures of existing personnel, has already met with players who may become Derby targets and that process is due to continue in the near future.
The Rams boss also revealed plans are in place for him and his staff to head on to the continent in order to make personal checks on players who have been identified as potential targets.
Trips to the Netherlands and Denmark have been pencilled in as the Rams aim to make sure they can hit the ground running once the new season begins.
“Planning is a word that covers a lot of stuff, really,” said Warne.
“We’ve had recruitment meetings since January. We tried to sign players in the January window.
“For the last few weeks I’ve bullied it, really, and said don’t recruit for League One, try and recruit for the Champ and if we don’t go up automatically, we’ll have a two-week window to rejig the list.
“Say there were 10 strikers we were after – the top three are Champ only, the bottom three are League One only, the middle four are either or.
“When people ask are there Championship lists and League One lists? Well, they’re all sort of the same. The talks with agents, the watching of games, has all been taking place.
“We have to look at the free list, really, which everyone else will look at. But the Championship one isn’t out until the end of the month.
“There are games in Holland that me and my staff are going to, there’s a game in Denmark that we’re going to, to watch these certain players. I met a player and I’m meeting another player either this week or next.”