Town target Steve Davies had been expected to make his first Derby appearance of pre-season this evening when a Rams reserves side faces Evo-Stik League side Belper Town at their Christchurch Meadow ground. However, the 24-year-old, who the Blues have been chasing all summer, has confirmed that he again won't be involved.

Davies has been left out of all Derby's pre-season games up to now to prevent him from picking up an injury but at the end of last week, Derby boss Nigel Clough said that with no deal yet done, the striker could stay at Pride Park until January and that with this in mind the former Tranmere frontman could now be involved in friendlies.

But Davies has tweeted confirming that he's only going along tonight as a spectator: "Taking a trip to support the boys at Belper tonight. Not playing tonight but going to watch."

We understand that the Blues and Rams continue to hold talks regarding Davies, who Paul Jewell signed when he was manager at Derby, with the clubs believed to be edging closer to an agreement regarding a fee. The Rams had initially targeted a figure of £1 million for the Liverpool-born frontman with the Blues not able to stretch that far.

In June, Davies confirmed that he would be leaving Pride Park this summer for a club nearer to London for what Clough described as "a genuine family reason”.

Photo: Action Images

Photo: Action Images

mrmorisato added 13:35 - Aug 7 I still say be patient on this one, if its not to be then im sure PJ has other targets to pick up on.
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Michael11 added 14:13 - Aug 7 Getting tired of this now, give them a take it or leave it offer. If they take it then great if they don't the it's their loss to have an unsettled player at their club who will probably come to us for half the fee in January.
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joe9087 added 14:30 - Aug 7 Interesting that Cressie is following him on Twitter...
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rosseden added 15:21 - Aug 7 not worth the trip then!
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Michael11 added 15:36 - Aug 7 @joe9087 - Were they not both at Tranmere together?
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Keaneish added 15:53 - Aug 7 How genuine is this family reason!? It seems it's quite a big deal so for it to drag on for two months seems a bit weird/over-inflated?
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Maverick_Mitch added 16:47 - Aug 7 If he comes good and we'll have another tool in the toolbox. Wasn't the problem last year the defence and we still seem to need to bolster this and start defending set pieces? As they say it's all about goals but that includes not conceding as well!!!
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ashfordtrueblue added 17:17 - Aug 7 He aint playing tonight against Belper, just a spectator, he's right really just dig his heels in, until a move to Ipswich comes about, just dont & wont play until Derby let him go, he's told Cloughie he wants to move south, weve offered £500k plus for him, I've sais all along he wil come here for around £650k max
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itfcjay added 18:30 - Aug 7 This transfer is a head banger. I cannot see why Clough would want to let him leave for free in January when there is money on the table for him. I feel as if there is more to this that we are not hearing . Ie PJ is keeping quiet and doing the business on the quiet. We need to sort out a new deal for Martin. I think 1 or 2 signings more and we can be a force once more in the championship. Let's have a line up of Loach cresswell chambers smith hewitt,martin luongo hyam jet davies chopra. Subs scotland,carson,edwards,stevenson,drury

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GTRKing added 18:34 - Aug 7 Looks like he wanna leave Derby & Move to the south & Clubs down south/east E.G Ipswich are will to pay 500k no more & Derby are being Stubborn & Tight & Will only sell for £1m+ There Loss & soon he will hand in a transfer Request.
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mrmorisato added 18:46 - Aug 7 I'll say it for a third time the nearer we get to transfer deadline day the harder Derby will sweat as they know they won't be able to sustain the same valuation come January! So I say to my fellow blues fans - BE PATIENT!!
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Talbs77 added 19:25 - Aug 7 I am just soooo bored of hearing, day in, day out, the same rumour on this guy who, to be honest, I hadn't even heard of before towns interest. Thats because the guys been injured for most of the last 4 years. Theres no waythis guy is worth even £700K so dont blame pj for playinghardball however, there does come a time when you have to give a "take it or leave it" offer to Derby so you can go to "plan B" and you wont be able to do that if the deal falls through at 11:55pm on the 31st of August. This needs concluding sooner rather than later.

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PeekFreans added 22:38 - Aug 7 Evo-Stik League............you couldn't make it up
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nysully added 00:31 - Aug 8 The only reason he isn't here is because he doesn't want to come here......
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Mr_Evans added 01:15 - Aug 8 I honestly think if the player had no intention of coming here PJ would have heard that from his agent by now. Club cannot negotiate deals with contracted players but they do sound out the players agents to see whether they would be interested. I'm with PJ on this one, we've been very clever in our deals thus far this transfer window; Loach for cheap, Chambers for free, Hewitt fairy cheap and a season long loan of Luonga. I think we'll sign the lad for £695,000 max within the next 10 days.

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nysully added 02:17 - Aug 8 I hope you are right Marcus, I have to admit we are being cagey and hopefully someone won't swoop in and sign him for 500k. Get Davies and a CB and we can get to the next transfer window.
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yorksblue added 08:08 - Aug 8 Don't worry folks. He'll be with us for the Blackburn game. Will probably sign on the dotted line at Ewood Park!!
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BigAlsMate added 11:07 - Aug 8 According yo at least two reports I have seen today, Brighton are now showing a strong interest in him. Ah well, another one lost if true ... so time to move onto the next missed prospect.
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NSL added 12:20 - Aug 8 When we paid £1m for Scotland and £3 million for Priskin and then sold Wickham for £8 million how can we not stretch to £1m for Davies? Dragging it out for the sake of pittance (when compared to Bullards wages) is only leaving less time for the player to bed in before the season starts and if he does eventually join then he would have had no pre-season and will be playing catch up unitl xmas. If the club really don't think he is worth £1 million you have to ask why they are looking at him at all. The fact is we need 1 x £3 millon striker. 1 x £2-3 Million creative midfielder and a £1m centre back to have any chance in getting in the top 6 this season.

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Surco72 added 12:31 - Aug 8 NSL .... expensive signings like Priskin,Leadbitter and Delaney they totalled nearly £6 million and moved us backwards ?
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NSL added 13:00 - Aug 8 My point is that £1m does not get you a lot of striker so if he is considered half decent (which he obviously is, otherwise we wouldnt have been pursuing him for so long would we?) then they should just pay up and get him up to fitness as soon as possible.
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Surco72 added 13:41 - Aug 8 I think the worry would obviously be his fitness not his talent . £ 1 million spent on a player who could only play half of the games is a big outlay at present time . And also you can pick up a player for £500,000 that could turn the season around Adam at Blackpool ,Taarabat QPR ,MCormack Leeds to name but a few ?
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