Derby County were active during the January transfer window as they sought to solidify their position in the play-off race.

The Rams completed three permanent signings, taking in left-back Derry Murkin from Utrecht, Oscar Fraulo from Borussia Mönchengladbach, and Dion Sanderson from Birmingham City, who had previously spent the season on loan at Pride Park.

Meanwhile, Derby used the loan market to sign Jaydon Banel and Sammie Szmodics for the remainder of the season from Burnley and Ipswich Town, respectively.

The arrival of Szmodics is sure to have raised a few eyebrows among the promotion-chasing pack, with the frontman reuniting with John Eustace and hoping to recapture his goalscoring form, as he did at Ewood Park with Blackburn Rovers.

With so much extra depth in the attacking areas, it’s no wonder that Andi Wiemann has been linked with a move away from Pride Park, with Austrian club Rapid Vienna expressing interest.

Derby first rejected the request, but the club appears to have reversed course and now allows the 34-year-old to return to his native Austria.

In response to the initial rejection, FLW’s Derby County fan commentator Shaun Woodward believed Weimann still had a role to play in the team for the rest of the season, but it now appears he will not play again in a Rams shirt.

With this in mind, our Derby fan commentator has responded to the news and shared his opinions on Weimann’s upcoming departure.

Derby County’s Andi Weimann leave deal “makes total sense”

Speaking to Football League World, Derby County fan pundit Shaun Woodward believes the Rams’ U-turn decision to move Andi Weimann to Rapid Vienna “makes total sense,” since the forward was unlikely to see many minutes for the rest of the season given their forward depth.

Shaun told FLW: “Like I said before, I could understand why we would have kept him, because I still believe he could have a role to come on in the last 10-15 minutes of a game, like he did at Bristol City, but the fact we signed Szmodics, we’ve got Morris coming back to fitness now, we’ve got Banel, we’ve got Fraulo, Diaz, Agyemang, Clark, we’ve got so many attacking options.

“His game time will be extremely limited, and I completely understand why he’d want to play elsewhere. With the World Cup coming up this summer, he has an outside chance of making the Austria squad, so for him, it’s a good opportunity to get minutes and showcase what he can do, and for us, we’re not losing much because he would have been sixth or seventh choice anyway.

“It makes total sense from Derby and Weimann for him to go get game-time and I wish him all the best.”

Derby County will be glad to dump Rams outcast, Andi Weimann.

While Andi Weimann was still getting minutes on the pitch for Derby in recent times, you can’t imagine he would have been satisfied coming off the bench for the final 10 minutes of games, so a return to Austria appears to be a good fit for the forward, especially since he has his sights set on a spot in Austria’s World Cup squad.

His assist in their 5-0 thrashing of Bristol City last week demonstrates what he can achieve at Championship level, but now that Weimann is gone, John Eustace has one less face to worry about when attempting to give all players in a fairly swollen forward department adequate playing time.

Weimann’s extensive experience in the Championship suggests that he may still have been an asset to Derby and had a beneficial impact on the dressing room as they pursue a return to the Premier League, but it remains to be seen whether this transaction will benefit the club in the long term.

But, from the outside, it appears that Derby made the correct option by making this U-turn. They can now fully focus on their roster of players, achieving their goals of breaking into the top six and giving themselves a chance to return to the big time.