Wayne Rooney’s Derby County have been tipped to make a loan move for Brighton and Hove Albion defender Matt Clarke. Clarke was signed to the Brighton team by manager Graham Potter back in June 2019 as he signed a four-year deal after arriving from Portsmouth. He joined the Seagulls for a fee said to be in the region of £3.5 after impressing Potter.
He became the first signing under Graham Potter’s tenure at Brighton and declared that he made the right decision by choosing to join the Seagulls despite attracting interest from a host of other clubs who were interested in signing him back then.At his unveiling, he was still 22 years of age and also said that he could not wait to get started for his new club who he could not hide his excitement after joining. According to Clarke, as at the period when he signed, everything and everyone at Brighton had everything in place to make sure that the team progressed pretty well and improve on the previous season they had.
Two years later, Clarke, who is now 24, is currently playing for Derby County on loam in his second season in a row for the club. He is yet to make his Brighton debut and faces a very tough competition for places at the heart of the Brighton defense with players like Adam Webster, Lewis Dunk, Joel Veltman, Ben White, and Dan Burn all ahead of him in the pecking order.
However, while he continues to wait for his moment, he has, and is still continuing to do everything he can to convince his manager at Brighton Graham Potter that he is ready to be a part of the setup at his parent club. In the Championship last season while playing for Derby, he made 37 appearances and was named the team’s player of the year. Rooney has now been tipped to sign the defender on a permanent basis for Derby.