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5 goals, 2 assists – Derby signing this 24-year-old Scottish star is an absolute no-brainer

Why Derby County should line up a January move for Lyndon Dykes

According to The Herald, Derby County have been handed a massive boost in their pursuit of Livingston striker Lyndon Dykes, who has issued a come-and-get-me plea ahead of the January transfer window.

In an interview with The Herald, Dykes has reiterated his dream of playing for Scotland on the international front while also confirming that he would love to move to ‘a bigger team and a bigger league’ at some point. 

The 24-year-old Australia-born centre-forward has emerged on the radar of several EFL Championship clubs, including Middlesbrough, Derby County, Blackburn Rovers and Swansea City, following a string of impressive displays in front of the goal at Livingston (h/t Herald).

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Lyndon Dykes scored for Livingston against Celtic in the Scottish Premiership back in October (Getty Images)

Born in Australia to parents of Scottish heritage, Dykes played for Mudgeeraba, Merrimac, Redlands United, Gold Coast City and Surfers Paradise Apollo in his homeland before moving to Scotland and rising to prominence with Queen of the South in the second-tier. 

The centre-forward racked impressive returns of 23 goals and 34 assists in 136 appearances for Queen of the South across all competitions, which paved the way for a move to the Scottish Premiership with Livingston in January 2019. 

Having spent the remainder of the past campaign on loan at his previous club, Lyndon Dykes has made an immediate impact in his first season at Livingston in the top-flight, scoring five times and assisting twice in 16 appearances across all competitions. 

Considering his consistently impressive displays for Livingston up top, the 24-year-old is capable of earning a call-up to Scotland’s international ranks.

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Dykes has emerged as a target for several Championship clubs ahead of the January window (Getty Images)

To put things into perspective, Lyndon Dykes has made a bright start to life in the Scottish top-flight and Derby County completing a move for the 24-year-old during the mid-season trading period would go a long way towards solving their goalscoring crisis. 

Having won 6, lost 6 and drawn 7 of their 19 games so far in the Championship (at the time of writing), the Rams currently find themselves languishing 14th in the standings, six points adrift of the playoff spots.

Meagre returns of just 20 goals in 19 games clearly suggest that the attacking players up top just haven’t done enough to help Derby in their pursuit of promotion. 

The likes of Martyn Waghorn, Jack Marriott and Chris Martin have not been outrightly poor so far but Derby must find a way to improve on their scoring record.

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Lyndon Dykes rose to prominence with Queen of the South in the Scottish Championship (Getty Images)

Waghorn (6) and Tom Lawrence (5) are currently the club’s top scorers in the Championship. Indeed, Dykes’ exploits reveal that he is not only capable of scoring goals but he is also equally proficient in setting up goals for his teammates.

Cocu managed to work wonders with an old-school forward like Luuk de Jong back during his managerial days at PSV Eindhoven. While Dykes isn’t of the same quality, the 24-year-old certainly shares some common attributes with the Dutchman.

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Verdict

All in all, Derby County should not hesitate to respond to the Dykes’ come-and-get-me plea with an official approach for his services when the transfer window reopens in January.