This article is part of Football League World’s ‘Terrace Talk’ series, which provides personal opinions from our FLW Fan Pundits regarding the latest breaking news, teams, players, managers, potential signings and more…

Louie Sibley has had a difficult time since leaving Derby County for Oxford United in the summer, with his minutes on the pitch being limited throughout his first few months at the club.

The 23-year-old spent over a decade at the Rams, joining the club as a seven-year-old in the academy before going on to make 173 appearances in black-and-white, securing promotion back to the Championship with his boyhood club in his final season.

However, he could not come to an agreement with the East Midlands side over a new contract, and instead joined The U’s for the 2024/25 campaign, facing his former team at the Kassam Stadium in October in a 1-1 draw.

It was a move that at the time seemed like a sideways step, and with a lack of game-time so far, it is possibly a decision that he may have some regret over. Derby, however, may not.

Derby are not missing Sibley currently

While a deal may have been worked on to keep Sibley at the club in the summer, an agreement was not able to be made, and the once so-called wonderkid left Pride Park for free.

The Rams signed well in the summer, and replaced the 23-year-old with Ben Osborn as tertiary cover at left-back, while Kenzo Goudmijn took over any potential loss in the middle of the park.

Football League World’s Derby Fan Pundit, Shaun Woodward, was asked if he believes the Rams are missing their academy graduate, something that he denies.

He told FLW: “I don’t think we miss Louie Sibley. He burst onto the scene with an amazing goal against Blackburn and a hat-trick away at Millwall, but he never really kicked on and reached the potential that we thought he had.

“A lot of managers tried, but he never really established himself in the team. Nobody knew what his best position was, he was often played as a left-back, or he drifted around the front three and behind the striker.

“But he’ll be remembered fondly by Derby fans. He scored some great goals and some very important goals last season for us and, obviously, being one of our own, the fans were desperate for him to succeed and become a real big player for Derby, a bit like Cashin.”

Shaun continued: “He never really kicked on, which is a real shame, but personally, I don’t think we miss him. I don’t think Paul Warne knew where to play him. I think at left-back we’re more than covered and I think in the attacking options we’ve got a lot, albeit they’re not really far at the moment.

“I don’t think Sibley would have made much of a difference. I think it’s more our style of play, and we’re up against better opposition now, so personally, no, I don’t think we miss him, but I wish him all the best.”

Sibley never lived up to the hype he created

Sibley burst onto the scene at Pride Park, scoring a wonderful goal against Blackburn Rovers in his first start against Blackburn Rovers in a 3-0 win in March 2020.

While he did have to wait a while for his second chance due to the stoppage of football due to the pandemic, he took it by both hands when the Championship returned, scoring four more goals, including a hat-trick against Millwall as the Rams finished 10th.

However, he struggled to recreate his goalscoring form in the seasons following, and under Paul Warne he was transformed into a more defensive player, operating at a mixture of left-back and left wing-back.

It was a move that proved to work for Sibley, but it seemed as though he wanted to play in his more natural midfield role, and without that option at Derby, he moved on in the summer.

The 23-year-old will always be welcome in DE24 as one of their own, but he is not currently a miss in this current Rams team.

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