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”.
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