Thu 28 Aug - Posted in Breaking News
Time to read: 3mins
Derby County Head Coach John Eustace noted the ‘progression’ of his squad ahead of their Sky Bet Championship clash at Ipswich Town on Saturday.
The Rams have made two new additions to the squad since they last took to the field, with midfielder Lewis Travis reuniting with Eustace from Blackburn Rovers and Scottish full-back Max Johnston signing from Austrian top-flight champions Sturm Gratz.
In addition, Derby’s 19-year-old striker Dajaune Brown has also headed out on a season-long loan to Sky Bet League One side Port Vale.
Derby’s new signings will be looking to stake their claim in the squad when Derby take on Ipswich at Portman Road on Saturday (3pm kick-off) and Eustace will be hoping they can make an impact as part of a squad ‘progressing’ and growing into the new season.
The Derby head coach spoke to RamsTV ahead of Saturday’s trip to Suffolk ahead of the first international break of the campaign.
I'm delighted to get them both. The club have been really working their socks off to try and get the players in, which is great.
Max is an attacking full-back. He's at a really good age, obviously a full international already with Scotland. He's got great experience playing in the Champions League and playing in Europe. We've got a really good, exciting young player coming in. It's our job now to help with his development and create a really good asset to the football club, as well as making sure he performs to the top of his capabilities, which is what we'll do.
Lewis Travis is a leader, and he's going to help the group immensely. The impact he has on and off the pitch, he's a fantastic human being, he's a good character and he's going to really help this football club move forward.
Dajaune had a fantastic loan two seasons ago with Gateshead. He came back last year and unfortunately got an injury, which meant he couldn’t progress.
Now it's important that he can carry on with his progression. Dajaune was really impressive throughout pre-season, which I've been pleased with.
He's put a lot of hard work over the summer to get fit, and now it's important that he can enjoy his football, play plenty of games and score goals.
We're playing against another top Championship team with a fantastic squad of players. They've certainly got a point to prove, and they'll want to get promoted back to the Premier League straight away.
We know it's going to be a test for us. We're really looking forward to it. The boys have trained really well in the last couple of days. I think the way we have progressed already throughout the season in the previous three or four games is very evident. We're going there full of confidence, and we can't wait for the game.
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