Published: 03/04/2008 00:00 - Updated: 04/04/2008 08:30

Jones back in Jewell's masterplan

MIDFIELDER David Jones has played himself into Derby County manager Paul Jewell's plans for next season, writes TOM SLOAN.

The 23-year-old playmaker has hit form under the Rams boss after falling out of favour under former manager Billy Davies and then suffering a double hernia.

But in recent weeks, the former Manchester United trainee has won a place in the Derby first-team, showing off the class which made him a key part of Rams' play-off winning side last season.

Jewell called for fringe members of his squad to show they wanted to stay at Pride Park, and Jones has done just that.

Said the Derby boss: "When I came here, David wasn't in the team but he was training with a little bit of a groin injury and ended up having a double hernia which kept him out for a bit.

"In fairness to him, he played well against Manchester United. He didn't have the best game against Middlesbrough, along with others, but I thought he did well out of position on Saturday.

"He had three or four shots and was involved in a lot of good things.

"So, Jones at the moment is saying to me 'I want to be here'.

"We can't just have 11 players next year. I want a squad of 20 really, all vying to get in that first team.

"When I say 20, I mean 20 first-team players, not 16 and four youngsters."

Jewell is piecing together his squad for next season, with several signings in the pipeline.

Andy Griffin, Matt Oakley, Steve Howard and Jon Macken have already been transferred out of the club and Stephen Bywater, Mo Camara, Michael Johnson, Lewin Nyatanga, Lee Holmes, Craig Fagan, Gary Teale and Stephen Pearson are all out on loan with a view to permanent deals at their respective clubs.

Said Jewell: "I've stipulated time and time again that if the right offer comes in and the player wants to leave and I believe it's right for the football club, we'll do business.

"But only on my terms. That's the beauty of the situation I'm in with the club at the minute. I haven't got sell players, we haven't got to make cut-backs. Of course, we've got to trim our wage bill, that goes without saying, but it's going to be a sustained effort to try to get back.

"Whatever I sell will be put back into team strengthening."

The Derby boss is now targeting replacements for the departed players and has one deal done in principle, with four others falling into place.

He said: "I'm trying to target the players and I've targeted four or five players already that I want to bring in.

"There are players I want to bring in and I think if we can get them in early enough we can hit the ground running in August.

"There are no guarantees of course because it's a new team that'll need time to settle but I want us to have the expectation of success next season.

"We've done one bit of business already that I think will benefit the team and we have things ongoing at the moment."

Jewell is also looking to utilise the loans market next season, with unnamed top clubs promising that the Rams can borrow their best youngsters.

He said: "We can explore the loan market next year. I spoke to some big clubs that have promised us that they will let us have the better younger ones.

"It's a market you can't explore in the Premier League. Obviously, if we can get the odd player from a top club in the Premier League on a year-loan, stuff like that can help enormously.

"You look at teams like Hull and they have used the loan market really well.

"That's what we want to do because when the players see Derby County and the training facilities it's an attractive proposition."

Birmingham City used the loan market particularly well last season as they won automatic promotion to the Premier League, bringing in Nicklas Bendtner and Sebastian Larsson from Arsenal, with both players having a massive impact at St Andrews.