Youngsters have caught eye but Roo keen to keep hold of them
BOSS NOW WAITING FOR GREEN LIGHT SO HE CAN OFFER DEALS
DERBY County remain hopeful of keeping hold of the youngsters who have made an impact since breaking into the first team this season.
Malcolm Ebiowei, Eiran Cashin and Liam Thompson are all out of contract this summer. They have been regular starters in the second half of the campaign, and they have caught the eye.
Eighteen-year-old Ebiowei has started the last 10 matches. Cashin and Thompson, who are both 20, have made 32 starts between them.
Reports over the last few days have said a number of clubs are showing an interest in Ebiowei, including Tottenham Hotspur, Crystal Palace, Leeds United, newly-promoted Fulham and German club RB Leipzig.
That would come as no surprise, nor would it be a surprise if clubs were eyeing Cashin and Thompson.
It would be a compliment to how Derby have developed the players.
Youngsters Festy Ebosele and Luke Plange will move to Udinese and Palace this summer. Plange joined the Eagles in January before being loaned back to the Rams.
Rooney is keen to offer Ebiowei, Cashin and Thompson new deals, and hopes he is able to do so, but this can only happen when a takeover of the club is given the green light.
All players want to play at the highest level possible and Derby will be in League One next season following relegation from the Championship but what the youngsters are highly likely to get at Derby next season is regular opportunities in the first team which, given their age and the still early stage of their careers, would be better for their development than dropping back into an under-23 set-up at another club or going out on loan.
Rooney, and his coaching staff, have shown they will give young players a chance if they show up well in training. The Rams boss felt Saturday’s hard-fought fixture against Blackpool in a crackling atmosphere at Bloomfield Road was a good test for the youngsters, including Louie Watson who has started the last two games.
“It was a good test for some of the young lads, someone like Watto, and it will really help them,” said Rooney.
“I am delighted with his performance.
“We know he is gifted on the ball technically, a clever player but he had to dig in, he had to win second balls and land on second balls, and he did that really well.”
Seven of Derby’s starting 11 at Blackpool are 21 or under as are the three substitutes they used in Louie
Sibley, Osazee Aghatise and Thompson. Rooney feels he needs to put new contracts in front of players soon or he fears losing them.
“I know the majority of the players I want to keep but ultimately we need the ownership to go through,” Rooney said last week.
“It needs to happen quick because once you get to the end of the season and players go off on holidays, etc, really I want them in front of me before that to either offer them a
new contract or tell them ‘thank you’ and maybe they have to go and look for another club.
“I know other clubs are in for players, players have told me that. I know that’s how it works and that’s why it is so important the takeover goes through quick because really I need to be putting numbers in front of these players in the next seven to 10 days, more for their piece of mind, some of them, but to make sure they don’t go and join other clubs.”