Szmodics Joins Derby On Loan
Monday, 2nd Feb 2026 21:30

Town have confirmed that forward Sammie Szmodics has joined Derby County on loan for the rest of the season.

TWTD revealed earlier this evening that the 30-year-old was closing in on a loan switch to the Rams, a deal sheet having been submitted prior to the 7pm deadline with the clubs having been unable to agree a fee for a permanent move. It’s understood it’s a straight loan with no obligation or option to buy in the summer.

Wrexham, who like Derby made an approach last week, failed to progress their interest, while we understand there were other Championship sides keen on a deadline-day loan.

Szmodics has had a frustrating season with Town due to injury and illness but recently returned to the team and scored his first Portman Road goal in the victory over his old club Blackburn Rovers.

The Blues signed Anis Mehmeti from Bristol City with the Albanian international able to operate as a number 10, where Szmodics has played this season, as well as on the left side of the attack.

Szmodics, who joined Town from Blackburn for £9 million in the summer of 2024, will hope to play and score regularly for the Rams as he looks to win a place in the Republic of Ireland squad ahead of a possible World Cup finals appearance in the summer.

The one-time Colchester youngster won’t be available to play against the Blues when the sides meet at Pride Park on Saturday.

Szmodics’s departure was the only outgoing business on what was generally a quiet deadline day at Portman Road.

The Blues are reported to have made a number of offers to Millwall for 24-year-old winger Femi Azeez, however, claims Town were prepared to break the Lions’ transfer record to make the signing are believed to be wide of the mark. It’s likely Azeez was viewed as a potential replacement for Szmodics.

Town’s only new deadline-day recruits were the expected additions of U21s players Ryan Doherty from Stevenage and Frankie Runham on loan from Chelsea.

Central midfielder Doherty, 17, joins on a permanent basis, while forward Runham, 19, is initially on loan but with the move set to be made permanent in the summer if an option is triggered.

Town had looked for a senior striker over the course of the window but ultimately brought no one in to add to their existing number nine options, George Hirst, Ivan Azon and Chuba Akpom.

It’s understood a number of potential new attacking recruits were put to manager Kieran McKenna but the Blues boss felt none were better than the players already at his disposal.

Town made two senior signings during the window, Mehmeti for an initial £3 million from Bristol City and midfielder Dan Neil on loan from Sunderland.

Elsewhere, former Blues loanee Kalvin Phillips joined Sheffield United on loan from Manchester City.

Photo: Matchday Images

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ringwoodblue added 21:35 - Feb 2 Another strange decision, like Chappers was. Difference is Pompey were not a promotion rival but Derby certainly are.
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howsey51 added 21:35 - Feb 2

I liked sammie. Worked hard. Local. But this is probably the right move. We have missed Nunez in that role lately.
In terms of a number 9- what has happens to George Hirst? He was a different player last time in the championship. Holding up. Bringing others into play. Scoring a couple. What on earth has changed? A year not playing with Liam in the role? Really strange. Would be like a new signing if he regained his form.

RetroBlue added 21:36 - Feb 2 Its becoming laughable tbh .... im.past asking why now. Just waiting for the fall out which will surely come.
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Mark added 21:37 - Feb 2 Is there a sizeable loan fee? Szmodics cost us £9m not so long ago, so that is a huge amount of money to lose. It is disappointing that we could not find a way to get the former golden boot winner to score goals for us. It feels like we have downgraded the squad on transfer deadline day, and I hope that does not cost us promotion.
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budgieplucker added 21:37 - Feb 2

Thinking about this, it could actually be a very astute move for Town. Let's all hope he rediscovers his form, he is only on loan and could potentially return to the club for next season. With the congestion for places at Town he could serve us much better by helping Derby get the better of the likes of Coventry, Hull Millwall and Stoke all potential top 6 rivals they still have to meet rather than contributing little from the bench at PR

HopefulBlue69 added 21:38 - Feb 2 If we don't make the playoffs because of Derby, well we'll need wholesale changes at the club senior management level.... Ridiculous letting Sammie go to a rival..
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armchaircritic59 added 21:39 - Feb 2 howsey, GH was a different and better player in the PL, never mind last time in the Championship. What on earth has happened, I do not know, but he's a shadow of that player. Still time for it to come back, only problem being, we don't have much of it, 3 months.
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budgieplucker added 21:42 - Feb 2

It also frees up a place for Frankie Runham if we haven't signed anybody else, all loan players under 21 still have to be named in the squad to be abke to play for the first team, Doherty is now ours and can be played without being a member of the 25 man squad. Plus it's curious how we will define Runham as being successful and paying I would imagine not an insignificant fee with the obligation to buy clause, so although we have said he has been recruited for the U21 squad I would imagine he may well be heavily socialised with the first team squad. May be putting Egeli under a bit more pressure.

itfchorry added 21:46 - Feb 2 Massive Error of Judgment- Think he was about to show us what he can do - when fit and why we wanted him -
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jas0999 added 21:46 - Feb 2

We end the day weaker. Wow no striker. Send a proven championship attacker out to our rivals. Couldn’t make this up. MA and KM have a lot to answer for.

As we now know, it’s KM decision not to bring a striker in. Arrogance in my opinion. If he thinks Hirst and Azon are good enough! Well, over to KM to deliver automatic promotion. Starting with a WIN tomorrow. Nothing else will do.

blueboy1981 added 21:48 - Feb 2 Bang the Goals in Sammie - all you need is to be played to your strengths.
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gosblue added 21:49 - Feb 2 As per my previous post, best wishes for the rest of the season Sammie. Come and give us a wave on Saturday and you'll hopefully get a standing ovation from the Blue Army.
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billlm added 21:51 - Feb 2 We have 24 named players in our squad, 23 really if youngs out long term, Two less players to try and keep happy, Or are we sneaking, looking at an out of contract player somewhere,
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Bert added 21:51 - Feb 2

Neither Coventry or Middlesbrough have added much to their squads and this transfer window has been rather timid all round. We need to bear that in mind in expressing disappointment that we have not added a striker which of course we would have liked. Neil and
Mehmeti are decent acquisitions and with Nunez and Philogene on their way back we should have enough quality to ride out this iffy phase and pick up the points.

tractor_lady added 21:54 - Feb 2 I get selling him for a decent fee but a loan to a potential rival makes zero sense, Derby are in terrific form and if he fires on all cylinders he could really help their promotion push, very strange and potentially tactical disaster!
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blueboy1981 added 21:55 - Feb 2 McKenna - you have much to answer for, but in reality couldn’t care less. Now made rich enough by ITFC to be so - and achieved WHAT overall ???
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RobITFC added 21:59 - Feb 2 Does this mean we are 1 player short on our 25 man squad ? Aldo beating in mind Ashley Young potential long term injury?
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AJW1971 added 22:02 - Feb 2 A good move for him, he teams back up with Eustace who will get the best out of him. Eustace is a good manager and sets his team up based on his player’s strengths
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notoriousITFC added 22:02 - Feb 2

Jas0999 you’ve got very little to go on to start labelling it arrogance from KM that we haven’t got a striker. There is SOOOO much going on behind the scenes with transfers and we get to see very little of it. Town have got much better at keeping things kept behind closed doors too. If the right targets weren’t available, I agree that we can’t just bring in anyone.

Szmodics loan is an interesting one given that a fee was on the table. Does that mean we think we can get a similar fee in the summer?

What I will say regarding a striker, is that considering we knew Delap was going to move on VERY early in the summer, it’s a failure that we’ve just ended January and we have Azon and Hirst leading the line. Clearly the summer window didn’t go to plan and we’ve not been able to rectify in Jan (striker specifically). That’s a wider club issue not a McKenna issue. We’re quite far behind other clubs from a recruitment perspective.

Anyway, we still have the strongest squad in the league. Let’s hope for an upturn of form for the strikers to see us home

GSH71 added 22:03 - Feb 2 Not a good move , I bet he will start playing well under his old manager , McKenna does seem to have a clue now , gone down in my estimation big time , I think we won’t get in the playoffs now , Portsmouth tomorrow will be a bloody hard game for us , if we are not up for it , we will lose Players don’t seem to fussed in my opinion .
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grubbyoik added 22:04 - Feb 2

So we paid good money for all these players.. and they all failed.. either we paid over the odds or we failed to get the best out of them within the cardboard constraints of Mckenna system which is so contrived there is no room for flair or off the cuff football..
Mcateer £12m ..
Ogbene £8m..
Muric £10m..
Szmodics £9m..

Cureently below standard..
Hirst..
Azon..
Akpom..

Stato added 22:07 - Feb 2

How many of you would be happy to see us pay £15m for Azon or £6m fpr Akpom ? They are the figures we are committed to if we get promoted. It's not just bad how many poor players like McAteer we have wasted money on but also the lack of financial guile on how some of these loan deals were structured. But having spent only £3m and we'll get that back on Sammy it looks like the owners have finally had enough of seeing very large sume squandered and who can blame them. Ashton in the spotlight even more than McKenna and needs to act swiftly to dismantle the massively under performing recruitment staff or McKenna will be off to a club that will give him a better collection of players to coach. If Ashton acts quickly he can retain the good reputation he has built up.

churchmans added 22:07 - Feb 2 No loan fee!!! Wtf
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PhilR added 22:07 - Feb 2

Looks like preference is for Mehmeti over Szmodics at 10, M and Nunez once he is back. M looks like a good player. For whatever reason Szmodics hasn't worked in our team/system. He obviously wasn't happy, in that scenario better to get rid. Injury prone. But he still belongs to the club - if he goes better at Derby we can hopefully get good value for him on sale.
Really hard to get hold of a good striker in Jan, I may be disappointed but not surprised that we will have to make do.
Amazing amount of acute negativity around when we are a few points off top 2. Coventry not doing so well. Once Nunez and Philogene are back we will be in with a good shout - Nunez really seems to be the missing link. Hopefully KM can get Mehmeti working as well as him.

Swoody added 22:10 - Feb 2 I think once again Town have shown they look after there players with this one, at Sammy’s age he is hoping to play in the World Cup. Having him missing out as he sat on the bench for the rest of the season would not have helped either party.
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