Derby County’s talent production line has blossomed in recent years, with a number of homegrown talents emerging from within the ranks to eventually star at Pride Park.
The likes of Max Bird, Jason Knight, Lee Buchanan, Malcolm Ebowei, Festy Ebosele, Morgan Whittaker, Louie Sibley, Liam Thompson and, most notably of all, Eiran Cashin, are all products of the Rams’ youth system.
Indeed, many of those players formed a part of the Derby under-18 squad which lifted the Premier League under-18 title back in 2019.
Relegation to League One two years later, and the corresponding financial backdrop as the Rams entered administration, meant they were powerless to prevent many of their young, prized assets from leaving the club, and current boss John Eustace is not able to call upon quite the degree of reared-and-readied academy prospects as some of his predecessors – even if that had been through necessity under Wayne Rooney, for example.
Nonetheless, there is now a school of thought among supporters that the next promising crop of talent is bursting through the ranks, and Cruz Allen is one player in particular who has been tipped for a big future in Derbyshire.
Cruz Allen named as Derby County’s biggest wonderkid
FLW spoke to our resident Rams fan pundit, Shaun Woodward, and asked him to name the one player he believes his club’s biggest wonderkid to be at this moment in time.
Shaun went with 18-year-old attacking midfielder Allen, who has starred at age-group level for the Rams this term. Also a Welsh youth international, Allen has registered seven goals and seven assists from just 20 appearances, spread across the Premier League 2, the FA Youth Cup and the under-18 Premier League.
He has twice featured in a matchday squad this season, too, and has been tipped to transition into a first-team regular in 2025/26. Interestingly, Allen also earned reported interest from Chelsea, Manchester United and Newcastle back in 2023, but will likely envisage a more visible senior footballing pathway in the East Midlands.
“Derby are blessed with a number of the under-18’s that look the real deal,” Shaun told FLW.
“They’ve been in and around the first-team now, on the bench and training with the first-team.
“I think Cruz Allen is slightly ahead of the rest. I could probably see him breaking through this summer and being with the first-team next season, I think he’s got 14 goals and assists this season from 20 games.
“He looks a real prospect. Attacking midfield, someone we desperately need in that position as well so I think he’s the one above all the others right now who would have the best chance of breaking into the first-team.”
Derby County may have to wait until 25/26 to bring academy talent into John Eustace’s first-team
Unfortunately for Rams supporters, who naturally want to see more young talent come through into the first-team picture after the recent successes, it would be much more sensible, and expected, for Eustace to wait until the following campaign to do so.
Derby have won each of their last three matches in the Championship but remain in a relegation dogfight as we head into the campaign’s dying embers, and are still currently in 22nd, two points shy of Cardiff City.
That could change if Derby make it four on the bounce by defeating Preston North End on Wednesday evening, and you would expect the Rams to continue their momentum and eventually seal survival under Eustace.
However, it’s not a conducive environment for bringing in youth academy prospects who will naturally require time to physically, tactically and psychologically adapt to the rigors of the senior game.
Cruz does indeed have a promising career ahead, and must be in Eustace’s long-term thinking, but right now it’s all about getting the job done and staying in the Championship before setting the foundations for the years to come.
