The one Derby County contract waiting to be written after darting under the radar
It was a brilliant goal that left his teammates in disbelief and sparked one hell of a debate. Had anybody with Derby County coursing through their DNA ever witnessed a better header than Curtis Nelson's against QPR?
A couple of contenders were shoved under the nose on social media, but the consensus was that nothing in recent history came close to the 15-yard bullet he fired into the postage stamp last weekend.
Such was the buzz surrounding one of the goals of the season that it was viewed more than nine million times on Derby's Twitter account. Paul Warne waxed lyrical about it after the game and, for the second time this season, his value from set-pieces was demonstrated yet again.
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But amid all the justified fanfare, what darted under the radar was just how well he has started the season. Two goals in the bank, one assist and four clean sheets out of five home league games are three bullet points to accompany a player who is bang in form.
With every passing week, he must surely be tempting Derby into a contract decision that, as of right now, looks straightforward. He is among eight players whose current deal expires at the end of this season, but given how well he plays, nobody could argue against the prospect of Derby handing him a new one.
His partnership with Eiran Cashin proved a bedrock of last season's promotion push, as they finished with the best defensive record in League One. He has simply carried on where he left off, and the fact that he is keeping Liverpool loanee Nat Phillips out of the team tells its own story.
But then we should expect nothing less from a player who, as Cashin said in an interview with DerbyshireLive last season, was essentially a poster boy for professionalism. That perhaps explains why he has played every minute of every league game since he joined the club from Cardiff City last summer, a stat that underlines his importance to the black-and-white cause.
Some fans have even dubbed him the Admiral which is the perfect nickname for somebody with such a commanding presence. And on current form, he is making it a question of when, not if, a new contract will be heading his way.
In contract at the end of the season: Jacob Widell-Zetterstrom, Kenzo Goudmijn, Ebou Adams, Nathaniel Mendez-Laing, Josh Vickers, Eiran Cashin, Callum Elder, Ryan Nyambe, Ben Osborn, Joe Ward, Corey Blackett-Taylor, Kayden Jackson, Jake Rooney, Dajaune Brown, Darren Robinson
Out of contract at the end of the season: Tom Barkhuizen, Liam Thompson, Conor Washington, James Collins, Rohan Luthra, Sonny Bradley, Curtis Nelson, Craig Forsyth, Kane Wilson
Loans expiring: Tawanda Chirewa, Jerry Yates, David Ozoh, Nat Phillips, Marcus Harness
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