Why Derby County should go all out to sign George Long this month
According to Daily Mirror journalist James Nursey, Derby County are monitoring Hull City’s George Long and Bournemouth’s Asmir Begovic.
George Long, 26, has enjoyed a strong start to the season, having established himself as Hull City’s first-choice goalkeeper under Grant McCann. He has played 26 matches so far, conceding 34 goals in the process.
Asmir Begovic, 32, on the other hand, has been on loan at Qarabag FK from Premier League club Bournemouth for the first half of the season. However, alongside Derby County, West Ham are keeping tabs on the Bosnian as David Moyes wants to strengthen his options in goal, reports the Sky Sports.
That being said, Derby County must completely focus on signing George Long from Hull this month. The Rams had a really mediocre first half of the campaign, with inconsistency stagnating the team’s progress under Phillip Cocu.
Wayne Rooney’s addition is great and the impact the former England international will have on Derby during the second half of the season was clearly evident in his first appearance for the club against Barnsley.
With Rooney adding a much-needed creative spark to Derby’s attack, Cocu must now shift his focus towards strengthening his defensive options. And the Dutch manager should prioritise solving the goalkeeping conundrum.
Kelle Roos started the 2019/20 campaign as the club’s No.1 goalkeeper following the departure of Scott Carson, but after a couple of high-profile errors and bad decision-making, the Dutchman was dropped in favour of Ben Hamer, who has started the last eight league games in a row.
However, the goalkeeping department lacks quality and competition, and Cocu must address it by signing George Long.
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Long, who joined Hull from Sheffield United in the summer of 2018, has been a consistent performer between the sticks this season. The 26-year-old knows the Championship inside out and he’ll be a strong addition to Derby’s goalkeeping ranks.
The former AFC Wimbledon star will compete with Hamer and will also give Cocu a valid option on the bench.
Verdict
It remains to be seen whether or not Hull will part ways with Long in the mid-season trading period but Derby must do everything possible to sign the shot-stopper.