The pros and cons of Derby County making a move to bring back Martyn Waghorn

Martyn Waghorn made more appearances for Derby County than any other club he’s played for. He made 123 appearances and scored 30 goals along the way.

The 33 year-old recently made an appearance for the Rams in Craig Forsyth’s testimonial against Stoke City which has spawned a number of rumours suggesting the striker could return to Pride Park. We look into the pros and cons of making him a Ram yet again.

Pro - Big game experience

Martyn Waghorn’s experience is well known by many. He’s made nearly 500 career appearances and has scored 126 goals.

One of the most notable came for Derby against Sheffield Wednesday on the last day of the season in May 2021 when he scored an equalising penalty that kept the Rams in the Championship and sent Wednesday down to League One, a moment that Rams fans will remember for a long time.

This sort of experience under pressure could really help Paul Warne’s side as they prepare for the tension of mounting a promotion charge.

Con - Type of striker

Despite this experience, Waghorn is not neccessarily the type of striker that Paul Warne wants and needs. With James Collins and Conor Washington, the Rams already have two ‘target men’ type strikers.

What this team needs is some added pace up front with a faster striker who can break through the opposing defence complimenting either Collins or Washington.

Waghorn isn’t that striker.

Pro - Familiar with the club

As previously mentioned, Waghorn has a lot of experience at Derby and this can’t be a bad thing.

If Paul Warne was to make a move for the 33-year-old, it wouldn’t take long for him to settle in with the staff and with his teammates.

Waghorn played with a number of Derby’s players in his previous stint at Pride Park which would mean he may already have the chemistry that the team would have to build with a completely new player.

Con - Age

Martyn Waghorn’s age is an issue however. He is 33 which makes him clearly past his prime years. The Rams’ strikers currently are 31 and 32.

Paul Warne could do with signing a younger striker that the Rams could get a few prime years out of.

Furthermore, Derby don’t have many players in their prime as they have a lot of young players and a lot of older players, signing yet another veteran wouldn’t help towards solving this problem in any way.