Derby County's Sammie Szmodics celebrates scoring their side's first goal of the game during the Sky Bet Championship match at The Valley
Derby County's Sammie Szmodics celebrates scoring againt Charlton.
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Sam Szmodics' move to Derby County is due to become permanent at the end of the season, with the forward triggering a clause in his loan deal from Ipswich Town. Szmodics signed for Derby from the Premier League side in the summer, with Derby returning to sign the forward after spending the second half of last season on loan from Town.
An obligation to buy the forward was inserted into the deal related to appearances, the criteria of which has been met and should be officially ratified at the end of the season. Derby will pay around £2.7m for the forward unless they win promotion to the Premier League in which case the price would increase to £5m.
Derby head coach John Eustace had made Szmodics one of his top priorities in this summer's window, having worked with the striker at Blackburn, where he scored more than 30 goals in the 2023/24 season.
He then signed for Ipswich following their promotion to the Premier League and scored four goals for Town, one of which came at former champions Manchester City. However, he couldn't halt Ipswich's relegation to the Championship and he joined Derby on loan last January and went on to help them secure a top-eight finish.
The striker was keen on rejoining Derby this summer and he has been one of Derby's standout performers so far this term having scored three goals in all competitions. He scored his first of the campaign with a wonderful strike against Lincoln City in the Carabao Cup first round defeat.
And he then followed that up with two goals in the Championship games against Charlton and Portsmouth. Derby will hope Szmodics can continue his impressive form when the league campaign resumes this weekend against Wrexham. Derby will be aiming to secure their first home win of the campaign, following a disappointing start badly affected by injuries. They have won only one game so far.
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