Marcus Maddison (Getty Images)
According to Derbyshire Live, Derby County have been credited with an interest in Peterborough United attacking duo Marcus Maddison and Ivan Toney, with the Rams apparently keen to add more firepower to their options up top in January.
However, if Derby are really serious about landing the duo during the mid-season trading period, they would need to fend off interest from fellow Championship clubs Bristol City, Middlesbrough and Blackburn Rovers. (h/t Derbyshire Live)
The same report suggests that Peterborough United are determined to keep hold of the pair and have made it clear that they will not be looking to sell their key players in January, as the Posh look to mount a challenge for promotion.
Both the players are rated at £10 million but the Derbyshire Live understands that attacking midfielder Marcus Maddison has a release clause of £2.5 million in his current contract, which is set to expire next summer.
A youth product of Newcastle United, Maddison failed to make the grade at his boyhood club and had an unsuccessful stint at St. Johnston in Scotland before resurrecting his career at Peterborough United following a move to London Road back in the summer of 2014.
Currently into his seventh season at the club, the 25-year-old has established himself as one of the best attacking midfielders in League One and boasts of an eye-watering tally of 57 goals and 90 assists in 231 appearances for the Posh across all competitions till date.
The Durham-born ace has once again caught the eye with his rich vein of form early in the ongoing season, with Maddison registering as many as 5 goals and 6 assists in 9 League One outings thus far, including a man-of-the-match performance in Peterborough’s 3-0 victory over Sunderland towards the end of August.
Noted for his magical left foot, natural finesse as a playmaker, as well as his uncompromised work-rate, Maddison has proven himself to be a reliable source of goals and assists at London Road and has been widely tipped to make a transition to a higher level.
To put things into perspective, it should be an absolute no-brainer for the Rams to complete an audacious swoop for Marcus Maddison, who is arguably the best playmaker in the third-tier.
Derby have endured a lacklustre start to life under new manager Phillip Cocu, with the Rams currently languishing 18th in the Championship standings after winning only one out of their first eight league fixtures.
Having made it to the playoff finals last season, the fans would have hoped for their team to go one step better this time around and end their drought for promotion but the Rams have struggled to live up to the hype.
As well as the departure of Frank Lampard, it was always going to be hard for Derby County to bring in replacements for departing loanees Harry Wilson and Mason Mount, both of whom played a key role in their surge to the playoff finals last season.
The decision to bring in Kieran Dowell on loan from Everton has backfired, with the youngster failing to make any kind of a positive impression this term under Cocu. The manager has also experimented with players like Duane Holmes and Martyn Waghorn in that playmaking role but noting has really paid off.
Jack Marriott, Tom Lawrence, Mason Bennett and Waghorn are all versatile enough to operate in multiple positions in the final third but Derby still need an influential playmaker like Marcus Maddison to add that much-needed creative spark to their attack, something which has often gone missing for Phillip Cocu’s side thus far this season.
Maddison looks more than capable of making the jump up to the Championship and at 25, the time might just be right for him to test his credentials at a club higher up the footballing pyramid.
All in all, the Rams should go all out in their pursuit of the League One star in January, as this is a move that might go a long way towards reinvigorating their promotion surge.
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