Thu 11 Sep - Posted in Breaking News
Time to read: 3mins
John Eustace has hailed his ‘fantastic’ Derby County squad when speaking for the first time after the transfer window closed last week.
Derby's Head Coach was offering his thoughts ahead of Saturday’s Sky Bet Championship clash with West Bromwich Albion at The Hawthorns (3pm kick-off).
The match-up with the Baggies will be the second time that Derby have headed to the Black Country this season, having won via penalty shoot-out in a Carabao Cup Round One tie last month following a 1-1 draw after 90 minutes.
Four senior players went out on international duty over the September window, including new addition Ben Brereton Diaz who jetted off to join up with the Chile national team straight after signing for the Rams last week after becoming Derby’s 13th signing of the summer.
Eustace spoke to RamsTV to discuss the transfer window's closure and look ahead to Saturday’s fixture at The Hawthorns.
We've had a really good ten or so days, with four players away from international duty. The boys who have been here have worked their socks off.
Everyone's back okay. The last one (on international duty) arrived back this morning. It's great to have players who are competing in international football and travelling around the world, as it showcases the profile of players we have here at the football club now. That can only be positive.
We want to raise the profile of the football club. We've got players playing all across the world, and it's a really exciting period for the football club. As long as they come back fit, that's all I ask for. It's about the football club growing and having these players playing at the top level.
I think it's a really exciting signing. We've been looking for that player to play on the left-hand side. He's a great size, he's very direct, he can score goals and he knows the level inside out. We’re delighted to have him in the squad.
I'm really happy with the squad. The work the club have put in to bring in the players has been great. The work that the club have done has been fantastic. Hopefully we can kick on now and have a really exciting season and see where it can take us.
West Brom have a fantastic squad of players that have mostly been together for a few seasons. They're very experienced at this level. They'll always end up in the top six or seven. We know it's going to be a difficult challenge, but one we're really looking forward to.
The positive from the Carabao Cup game last month was that we were getting players fit. We used that game to give experience to the players. West Brom were excellent on the night and probably felt they deserved to win. The most important thing is that we will go there full of confidence again.
We know it's going to be a really difficult match against a top team and a very good coach, but let's just wait and see what happens.
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Derby County
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