Derby County have re-signed forward Sam Szmodics on a season-long loan from Ipswich Town.
The 30-year-old’s newest transfer to Pride Park, nevertheless, comes with an obligation for the Rams to purchase the Republic of Ireland worldwide on the finish of the 2026-27 marketing campaign.
BBC Radio Derby understands the duty to purchase is appearance-based and the price might be within the area of £2.7m.
Szmodics featured 13 instances for Derby final season, scoring three objectives, as they fell 4 factors wanting the Championship play-off locations.
He has beforehand flourished beneath Rams boss John Eustace, ending because the second tier’s main scorer with 27 objectives in 2023-24 when the pinnacle coach was answerable for Blackburn Rovers.
Those objectives helped persuade Ipswich to pay £9m to take him to Portman Road in the summertime of 2024 after they had been heading into their first Premier League season for greater than twenty years.
He scored simply 4 top-flight objectives because the Tractor Boys had been relegated after only one season, then he managed to search out the online solely as soon as in 18 appearances for Ipswich final season earlier than shifting to Derby on loan.
“After being here for a couple of months, I knew what the squad and the club were all about – if I had anywhere to come back to, it was always going to be here,” Szmodics told the club website., external
“Hopefully, we will go one step further than we did last year and get promoted to the Premier League.”
Meanwhile, Derby midfielder Liam Thompson is on the verge of leaving the membership for Mansfield Town.
The 24-year-old first made his debut in 2021 following a six-year journey by way of the academy ranks and has one yr left on his deal.
