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Championship Golden Boot Winner Set to Join the Rams

Irish international Sammie Szmodics—who won the 2022/23 Championship golden-boot—is reportedly on course to join Championship rivals Derby County for an initial £4 million, rising to £6 million with add-ons.

After joining Ipswich in the summer of 2024, Szmodics has been unable to impress the Tractor Boys, scoring just five times in 37 appearances.

The Irish forward has fallen out of favour at the Championship club, having not played a full 90 minutes since last September.

🚨Breaking#itfc and #dcfc have reached an agreement for Town midfielder, Sammie Szmodics. Deal said to be worth around £5m for the 31 year old. pic.twitter.com/mGQ3Zw8BVR
— TownX (@T0wnEx) February 2, 2026

Szmodics Set for Derby Switch

Szmodics has been the talk of the town in Derby, with fans waiting for his imminent arrival.

John Eustace, the Derby manager, has already been asked about him. “He's not our player,” he said. “I am not going to talk about anybody not with us at the moment.

"We want to bring players in who are going to improve us. It's very important that whoever we bring in makes us better. Somebody of his quality would certainly help the group."

Derby County currently sit 7th in the Championship table, just two points behind Wrexham, who currently occupy a play-off.

Derby fans will hope that Szmodics can rediscover his form from bygone years, as they make a second-half season push for promotion.