Max Johnston

Right Back - Derby County
5 Sep 2026
Saturday
Process

Marked for Max Johnston

5 Edition

The Derby County Herald

31 Aug 2026
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Market

Jacob Widell Zetterström asks to leave Derby County

“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.

Market

Derby County say no — this time

The offer from Everton for Carlton Morris was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.

Market

Nottingham Forest watching Derry Murkin

The interest is real enough to have reached print. Derby County have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.

Squad

Words exchanged at Derby County

Sam Szmodics and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.

Transfer targets

Door shut on Chema Andrés

Derby County asked and Brighton said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.

Squad

A row about effort at Derby County

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Max Johnston was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

The dugout

No hiding place for Lewis Travis

“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Lewis Travis, and the manager let it.

Match

Preston snatch it back from Derby County

A goal on 96 minutes turned three points into one and a good afternoon into an argument about game management that will run until Saturday.

Squad

Too much change too quickly at Derby County

7 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.

In brief