Plenty of Signings, Little Impact? Derby's Fitness Concerns Mount

Plenty of Signings, Little Impact? Derby's Fitness Concerns Mount

After two games games lost in the league so far, Derby County find themselves sat at 22nd in the Championship. Whilst alarm bells won't be ringing just yet, there are multiple causes for concern.

The Rams have shipped 8 goals so far, in losses to Stoke City and Coventry City. Their loss against Coventry was a 5-3 thriller at Pride Park, a game in which they had only two attacking options in the starting 11.

Derby came into this season with an air of anticipation. Boss John Eustace is heading a total rebuild after their 19th placed finish in the Championship last season. A flurry of signings have been made this summer, but these have seemingly had little impact so far.

The start of the season has not been helped by a number of injuries. They are currently now without eight first team players.

The question is; what is their season going to look like and are their new signings going to make an impact this season?

Game 10:
Derby County 3-5 Coventry City
🏆 EFL Championship
📅 16/08/2025, 12:30
📍 Pride Park#dcfc #pusb #groundhopping pic.twitter.com/KbAmhlGHuE

— Alex Taylor (@ACTaylor96) August 16, 2025

Transfer Window Recap

Derby brought in an impressive 10 new faces in the summer transfer window. This included Charlotte FC's Patrick Agyemang for £5.8million and proven Championship goalscorer Carlton Morris.

They added some well needed experience through the free signings of Andreas Weimann and Danny Batth, who provide a wealth of championship know-how.

They complemented these with a number of youthful loan signings. Exciting Red Bull Salzberg midfielder Bobby Clark and Liverpool left-back Owen Beck were acquired, to name a few.

All of these signings sound extremely positive, but they have been largely underwhelming thus far. Carlton Morris has bagged a few goals, but none of these have had value due to Derby's defensive troubles.

Carlton Morris is a Ram. pic.twitter.com/xB54seG5UT

— Derby County (@dcfcofficial) June 26, 2025

Fitness Concerns

Derby's early season struggles could be attributed to their injury concerns. With now eight players being ruled out with injuries, The Rams need players to recover fast to bolster their depleted squad.

Marquee signing Patrick Agyemang has failed to make an appearance for the club, as he has been struggling with a hernia problem. With the money they spent on the player, Derby would have been hoping that he could have provided some attacking outlet in the opening Championship games, if he had not been sidelined by injury.

New loan signing Owen Beck has also been out for the start of the season with a muscle injury. You would have fancied him to start the season in Derby's defence after playing 24 games for Blackburn Rovers last season.

Derby's backline is also missing starters Curtis Nelson and Kane Wilson. Sondre Langas was also an option at centre-back last season, he has been injured since May of this year. This could explain the defensive struggles they have been enduring in the first two games of the season.

Fan Discourse

With the amount of injuries the club are dealing with at the moment, many Derby County fans have been expressing their frustration at their current predicament.

Derby were inflicted with multiple injury problems last season, and a similar narrative has continued into their second season back into the championship.

Fans are right to be frustrated, as it seems that everything is going against them and they are just getting unlucky. It hits even harder when multiple of your new signings are unable to make their debuts due to injuries.

Here come the injuries again. pic.twitter.com/DV0wg6lvej

— Derby Retweets (@DerbyRetweets) August 11, 2025

Such are the injury problems at Derby right now.

Only TWO attacking players are fit enough for the starting XI 🥴 pic.twitter.com/18SFrCguQ2

— Second Tier podcast (@secondtierpod) August 16, 2025

Being a Derby county fan certainly humbles you, the quicker we get these injuries back the better

— Bec (@BecThisisbeckie) August 16, 2025

What's Next For Derby?

Manager John Eustace needs to weather the storm for a few more games. The injury situation is not ideal, but it should improve over the next few championship games. If Derby can pick up points where they can and then assess the circumstances once they have a fully fit squad, they can still have a successful season.

If they can also bring in some more players before the beginning of September it would be a great boost, if they are financially able. At this point, quantity over quality is needed to supplement the squad.

In their next game they face Bristol City at Pride Park. If the home fans can get behind them, they should be optimistic that they can pick up at least a point here. But it will be a challenge considering Bristol City are unbeaten so far this season.

It will be interesting to see if Derby's situation will improve or worsen. Here at Football Park, we will keep you updated.