On-loan Chelsea striker Patrick Bamford may have to bide his time before forcing his way into the starting line-up at Derby.
The 20-year-old moved to Pride Park earlier this month and came on as a substitute for his Rams debut in their recent 4-1 loss against Championship promotion rivals Leicester.
Chelsea, who signed Bamford from Nottingham Forest two years ago, were keen for him to be tested at a higher level after he scored 17 goals in 30 games while on loan at League One club MK Dons.
But Derby manager Steve McClaren has plenty of attacking options and his team were in excellent form prior to the Leicester defeat
“Patrick has fantastic technique and you can see he is a good footballer and that he has the potential to be an even better footballer,” said Derby’s first-team coach Paul Simpson.
“He has settled in really well and seems a good lad. But what we have to do is integrate him at the right time and it is up to the manager to decide when it’s the right time to put him in.
“Hopefully he will then be able to carry on where he left off at MK Dons.”
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This post was last modified on 16/01/2014