Former Blues striker Martyn Waghorn is reportedly a Town summer target with the 31-year-old’s Derby contract up at the end of the campaign.
Waghorn left Town for the Rams in the summer of 2018 for a fee of £5 million rising to £7.5 million, signing a three-year deal.
Football League World is reporting that Town are weighing up a summer return move for the former Sunderland and Leicester man.
Waghorn was hugely popular in his one season with the Blues, netting 16 goals in 39 starts and seven sub appearances, the Blues having signed for a bargain £200,000 from Rangers in August 2017.
Town boss Paul Cook is set to make wholesale changes to his squad in the summer and it seems likely that free agents currently with Championship clubs will come into his thoughts, although with his ability to recruit at that level hampered by League One’s SCMP Financial Fair Play rules.
The former England U21 international striker is likely to attract attention from plenty of clubs and may still be wanted at Pride Park with manager Wayne Rooney having said a decision on his future and that of other players will be made at the end of the season.
Waghorn will hope to prevent the 21st-placed Rams from joining the Blues in League One on Saturday when they host Sheffield Wednesday, who are 23rd, in their final game of the season.
The South Shields-born frontman has scored three times in 20 starts and 11 sub appearances for Derby during 2020/21.