Firstly, Clough signed Northampton winger Michael Jacobs, many Derby fans that I have spoke to see this as a good signing and personally so do I, he is a versatile winger that can play on the left or the right and he will give 100% no matter where he's playing. So far in pre-season Jacobs has made a good impression on the Derby supporters and has already opened his account for the club by scoring in the 1-0 win at Burton. Also he is very young and has a lot of time to improve considering how well he's doing already.
Secondly, Clough signed Preston midfielder Paul Coutts for £150,000 many Derby fans have also been impressed with this signing and many Preston fans not happy that he has left them. However, Coutts is not a great player who I believe doesn't fit into Nigel Cloughs style of play. This is my opinion and all Derby fans can disagree if they want to.
After the sale of Captain and star player Jason Shackell Clough really needed to find a very good replacement for him. He turned to Coventry player of the season and captain Richard Keogh. The former Carlisle United man is a decent player at best, in my opinion he won't be able to live up to the standards that Shackell set in the previous season.
Finally, Derby ended there pursuit of finding a cover for Gareth Roberts by signing versatile defender James O'Connor, the former Aston Villa trainee has signed a two-year deal with the Rams and can play anywhere in defence. Clough seemed very happy to have finally signed O'Connor and said that he was 'just the man they were looking for' I never have really seen O'Connor play before but according to many Doncaster fans he's a very good player.
We'll just have to wait and see how the season turns out for these players!
Also, just to add, many fans are unhappy that trialist James Caton was not signed up by Nigel Clough and the reason for this is that Derby simply could not afford to pay the wages of Caton, he wasn't after much but after the arrival of Jacobs and Coutts he didn't want to risk paying for someone that may/may not play well during the season. I personally am not happy with this decision by Clough and I believe that he is better than both Jacobs and Coutts and plus is younger. He has now secured a trial at Blackpool and they look set to sign the winger after opening his goal scoring account for the club by scoring against Everton.
But on the bright side:
We look set to sign defender Valentin Gjokaj after impressing on trial.
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