Derby County man now only three games away from claiming horrendous unwanted Championship record

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Derby County are struggling this season, to say the least, and one of their players is about to take ownership of a terrible record for himself.

It’s been a strange season for Derby County upon their return to the Championship. The Rams started the campaign fairly well, and appeared to be on course to avoid relegation without much fuss.

Things took a downward turn, though, leading to Paul Warne getting the sack at the start of February. But, spirits were lifted when John Eustace made the shock move to leave Blackburn Rovers and join Derby instead, despite them being in the relegation zone.

There’s lots of work to be done for Eustace at Derby if he is to save them from the drop now. But, one of his tasks may well revolve around saving the blushes of one of his players, who is within touching distance of making Championship history for all the wrong reasons.

• READ MORE: Derby County just announced surprise new signing and fans believe he’ll be a ‘quality addition’ to John Eustace’s squad

Ryan Nyambe to become record-holder for failure to score

In the next three games, we may well see Ryan Nyambe become a record-holder in the Championship, as the player with the most outfield appearances without scoring a goal.

The Derby defender has actually never scored a goal in his professional career, across 287 appearances in the game. Whether that is about to change anytime soon, we highly doubt, especially given Nyambe has only registered one shot since December 2023 — that’s 24 matches without a shot.

Nyambe has now racked up 199 appearances in the second tier, across nine seasons with Derby, Blackburn, and Wigan Athletic.

Looking ahead, Nyambe will have to find a way to score against either Middlesbrough, Blackburn, or Coventry lest he become the reluctant holder of the record. Of course, the whole Derby team really needs to find goals from somewhere, so Nyambe’s hopes are not exactly positive.

Let’s just say, it’s very unlikely Nyambe will be entering the Championship Golden Boot race any time soon. What he would give for just one goal, though.

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What does Ryan Nyambe offer for Derby County?

We got the opinion of our Derby County expert, Luke Thrower, on the matter to really get to the bottom as to what Nyambe does offer the Rams.

As for the positives, Thrower said: “Ryan Nyambe is one of Derby’s better defenders, capable of locking down the right flank on his own with the right positioning and timing of his challenges. Whether it’s at right-back or at right-centre-back in a back three, he is a more than dependable option at the back.”

But, Nyambe has his pitfalls, of course. Thrower added: “When it comes to the forward areas, there are more challenges. Nyambe rarely looks comfortable in the final third and doesn’t find himself in scoring positions at all.

“His lack of height also means he isn’t used as a set-piece threat either, culminating in a player who is a fantastic defender but simply doesn’t score or assist regularly.”