Szmodics Set to Rejoin Derby On Loan
Thursday, 30th Jul 2026 15:30

TWTD understands departing forward Sammie Szmodics is set to rejoin Championship Derby County on a season-long loan with an obligation to buy.

Szmodics, who is contracted to Town until the summer of 2028, spent the second half of 2025/26 on loan at Pride Park with manager John Eustace, the 30-year-old’s boss at Blackburn prior to his £9 million move to the Blues in the summer of 2024, making no secret that he wanted the Irish international to return.

Town would ideally have wanted a permanent switch but with Szmodics’s wage having increased following the Blues’ promotion to the Premier League, that wasn’t possible and so a loan for this season and an obligation to buy next summer has been negotiated.

Speaking last night, Town manager Gary O’Neil said he anticipated Szmodics’s exit being confirmed soon.

“I can see something happening with Szmods,” O’Neil said. “He’s been been a fantastic servant for the club, top guy, but there’s a few bits going on.

“Szmods has had a bit of a sore knee, but I can see in the next few days that potentially Szmods will move.”

Szmodics made 22 starts and 17 sub appearances for the Blues, scoring five goals, all but one in the 2024/25 Premier League season.

Photo: Matchday Images

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burnbudgiesburn added 15:33 - Jul 30 Fair enough on the reason for the loan, but let's hope the obligation is more watertight than Al Hamadi's was!
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Alberto_the_frog added 15:38 - Jul 30 Could have done with money for him NOW
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JewellintheTown added 15:40 - Jul 30 Feel a bit sad for Sammy as its all a bit in limbo again for him & the club. I'm sure he'd prefer a sale too. Also keeps him tied to us and costing us. Clean break would have been better. Derby understandably messing Sammy about for money but its better than being with us and not playing I suppose. Surely someone else would want to buy him though?
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parkinshair added 15:42 - Jul 30 Fantastic servant for the club is stretching it a bit.
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RanmoorRuffian added 15:47 - Jul 30 Frustrating we'll now be paying a decent portion of his wages this season :-(
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BlueMoon added 15:47 - Jul 30 Without wanting to rake-up what I'm sure has been discussed in depth previously (I can't find it). What was the gist of what SS had done to make his time here untenable? If it's that bad then must be a factor here too aside from just wages.
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dirtydingusmagee added 16:10 - Jul 30 given that he was unlikely to play for Town again cant see the point in him just being loaned out, Sell him , im sure someone would buy if not Derby .
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SuffPunch added 16:13 - Jul 30

Harshly maybe, but I don't think he is good enough to keep us safe in the Prem.
So sending him on loan and not having to pay all his wages is a bit of an opportunity.
We need physicality up top, and seeing there is nobody who i know of in our shopping budget, I would be happy to see Delap back.
By all accounts Fatawu was very rapid last night, and if we secured Enciso that would be quite a front line.

66notout added 16:28 - Jul 30 Biggest waste of money ever and by all accounts not a nice bloke either.
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ITFC_1994 added 16:33 - Jul 30 Good riddance, awful player that just moves his arms really quickly so people think he works hard....the worst signing of the KM era.
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boysof1981 added 16:44 - Jul 30 So one decent game now makes you a fantastic servant of the club. Do me a favour. £9 million down the drain
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RetroBlue added 16:46 - Jul 30 Paid way over the odds for him. Allegedly a rotten apple in the barrelled, shipped out but now cant sell him because the club got ptomoted ,band fud lityle whilst he was here. Fanstatic bit of business by the club ( shrugs shoulders)
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jas0999 added 16:59 - Jul 30 Sensible decision. Surplus to requirements. Loan owing to the wages is a good move, with presumably a loan fee attached. Obligation to buy means he has effectively left the club or at the very least we are highly unlikely to see him in a Town shirt again.
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Jonathan_Charles added 17:23 - Jul 30 We need team players and he doesn’t appear to be one. He had so much potential and a great track record until he came to Ipswich and then for whatever reasons he couldn’t get in the team and things went south. Best wishes to him and Derby
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Monkey_Blue added 17:25 - Jul 30

Promotion will make many of the players we would like to sell unaffordable wages wise for championship clubs. It’s a fact of life. Yes, players wages have to go down with relegation but you can’t hace it both ways and them not go back up. Ogbene is likely on £20k a week for example. To pay a transfer fee and match his wages is just beyond all but the parachute clubs and even for them it’s a large outlay.

trevski_s added 17:29 - Jul 30

Shame Derby aint willing to pay up this year but at least we can get him out the grounds for the season. Hopefully the obligation to buy is something as simple as "play 5 games"

He seemed like a nice guy when he first came in and was always a laugh for Towns social media, but overall from what you hear he's a bit of a d***. Someone that I currently work with, their dad works for Peterborough behind the scenes and apparently his attitude back then was just as rotten

Cookieboy added 17:39 - Jul 30 As I said in earlier blogs, what's in it for ITFC !!!!! By the sounds of it not a lot. Sell him now and get some money back . Another bad deal
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AbujaBlue added 17:46 - Jul 30 Trevski not too mention his behaviour when leaving Blackburn.
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Wakh added 18:04 - Jul 30 ALBERTO THE FROG. When you say "Could do with the money" How do you ean and how much
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Linkboy13 added 18:13 - Jul 30 He's obviously on very good money at Ipswich which makes a permanent deal very difficult to do.
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Wakh added 18:22 - Jul 30 Cookieboy It doesnt work like that.
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armchaircritic59 added 18:29 - Jul 30 Not really my cup of tea for various reasons, but no need to be nasty, so I'll just say best of luck for the coming season SS.
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runningout added 18:29 - Jul 30 Abuja… Szmodics left Blackburn on good terms. Shame the tiff couldn’t be rectified better. Hope SS and Derby do well this coming season if he does go there
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barrystedmunds added 19:53 - Jul 30 However you dress it up it doesn’t seem a particularly good deal from Town’s perspective! As others have suggested let’s hope it’s a 5 game trigger and they’re obliged to buy.
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HopefulBlue69 added 19:55 - Jul 30

None of us know what really went on and why he went out on loan. There does seem to be a lot of chatter that something unsavoury did occur. I think the best thing in these situations is to rip the plaster of quickly and get it over with. If Derby won't play ball and pay the transfer fee, we should just bite the bullet and sell him on cheaply to another Champ team.