Baggies may make move for Phillips, while loan possible again for Armstrong

THE transfer window is open again and Derby County’s first pre-season friendly is less than a month away.

- By LEIGH CURTIS [e-mail] @LeighCurtis_DT

John Eustace and his recruitment team are busy plotting their plan of attack for the deals they need to do in what is the head coach's first chance to put his stamp on the squad following his arrival last Feb-ruary.

With the Rams’ Championship status secure and the EFL fixtures to be released later this month, there is lots on the agenda.

As the club prepares for pre-season and a training camp in Austria, here’s the latest from my Rams notebook:

Phillips race heats up

The race to sign Nat Phillips con-tinues to gather pace with the Liver-pool defender expected to leave Anfield this summer.

A number of Championship clubs are chasing the centre-back, who was key to the Rams’ survival bid under John Eustace.

The Rams head coach said Phil-lips was a player he would love to keep but there is serious competi-tion for his services.

West Bromwich Albion are report-edly front of the queue for the 28-year-old, who still has one year left on his contract at the Premier League champions.

New Baggies boss Ryan Mason is said to be a big admirer but it remains to be seen if Liverpool will sanction another loan move given that Phillips only has 12 months remaining on his contract.

Derby might find the player's wages prohibitive given his salary at Liverpool but Sky pundit Lee Hen-drie believes the Baggies would be a good fit.

“West Brom, I think this is where they're going to have to recruit well in the loan market,’ he said.