Championship sides Hull City and Bristol City are set to drop interest in Derby County midfielder Max Bird, as reported by Darren Witcoop via his Twitter.
Hull City had a bid rejected for the midfielder at the beginning of this month, and the Tigers were expected to come back in an attempt to sign Bird from the Rams. Bristol City’s interest in Bird was quiet, with the Robins having already signed Jason Knight from the League One side.
However, the Championship duo are reportedly dropping interest in the midfielder following his injury in the 1-0 win over Fleetwood Town over the weekend. According to Witcoop, Bird will be out for at least ten weeks with ligament damage in his ankle.
Bird’s injury comes as part of a triple blow the Rams were dealt this weekend, with Paul Warne confirming injuries to Kane Wilson, who arrived from Bristol City as part of the Knight deal, and Joe Ward also picking up an ankle injury. Warne lamented the injuries as he called for more signings this morning, admitting that Derby County are ‘not a top three team’ right now. Their win over Fleetwood Town ended a run of three consecutive defeats at Pride Park.
Despite the signing of Jason Knight, Bristol City were still in the market for a midfielder this summer, the side seeing a bid rejected for Bolton Wanderers midfielder George Thomason. Following that bid being rejected, the club opted to move on to other targets, with a few names in League One being mentioned as a target for the Robins.
Writer’s View
The loss of Bird will be a huge blow for Derby County, who were already looking at midfielders before his injury. For Hull and Bristol, it makes sense to drop interest in Bird, with the player not looking to be playing football again until October at the earliest. This could be a transfer that one, if not both of the clubs, come back to in the future once he is fit again.
