Derby County: You may be very surprised where these 3 ex-Rams stars are playing now | OneFootball

FLW takes a look at three players to have donned the black-and-white and sees where they are plying their trade now.

Derby County's history of players is extremely extensive.

The club dates all the way back to 1884, and since then the Rams have been the home of some of English football's greatest players, such as Alan Hinton, Colin Todd, Dave Mackay and, of course, Steve Bloomer.

In recent years, it has been more of a struggle for the club, with Derby now without top flight football since 2008. However, Pride Park has played host to some modern day legends who made their name before their arrival in the East Midlands.

Ashley Cole, Darren Bent and Wayne Rooney are just three players to have worn the black-and-white of the Rams in the last 10 years, and the club's recent 'Legacy Numbers' scheme shows the calibre of some of the nearly 1200 players that have represented Derby throughout its 140-year existence.

Football League World has taken three of those names, and taken a look at where they are currently plying their trade, with some surprising results.

Ben Pringle

Ben Pringle moved to the Rams in July 2009 from local side Ilkeston Town, making his debut for the team in the first game of the 2009/10 season, seeing out the final 10 minutes of Derby's 2-1 win over Peterborough United at Pride Park.

The winger found appearances to be very limited over the course of his two years at the club, playing just 23 times for the team before moving to Rotherham United in the summer of 2011.

He has played for clubs throughout the EFL since departing the East Midlands 13 years ago, including the likes of Fulham, Ipswich Town and Preston North End, but it is his current and most previous clubs who will come as the biggest surprise to Rams fans.

Now 35, Pringle is playing his football out in the United Arab Emirates for Precision United, having left Fleetwood United ahead of this season.

United are an off-shoot of English club Fleetwood Town, with the winger captaining them to the UAE Second Division title in the 2023/24 campaign, whilst Precision are a newly-formed club playing at that very same level, with his team-mates including Ravel Morrison and Harry Arter.

The former Derby player seems to be relishing the chance he has been given in the Middle East, and has done brilliantly since leaving Pride Park all those years ago.

Conor Sammon

Signed for £1.2 million from Wigan Athletic in August 2012, Conor Sammon struggled to have the impact that he would have hoped to have during his time with the Rams.

The striker was handed a four-year contract by manager Nigel Clough, and despite making 90 appearances in black-and-white, he only scored 13 times in all competitions.

The signing of Chris Martin later in the 2012/13 campaign was an early beginning of the end of Sammon's time in the starting XI at Pride Park, and although he played 37 games in his second season with Derby, he started just three times.

Loans to Ipswich, Rotherham and Sheffield United offered the now 37-year-old much needed minutes, but he was released at the end of his contract, joining Scottish club Hearts for 2016/17.

Since then, he has featured for Falkirk, Kilmarnock, Motherwell and Partick Thistle, but he is now playing his football in Scotland's League One for Alloa Athletic, with this season marking his fourth at the club.

Kamil Jozwiak

There was a lot of expectation surrounding Kamil Jozwiak when he made the reported £3.4 million move to Derby in September 2020, and it was perhaps this pressure that led him to struggle throughout his time at Pride Park.

The Polish winger had huge pedigree following an extremely promising start to his career for Lech Poznan, but one goal and four assists in just over a season-and-a-half of Championship football was a big reason behind his eventual sale to Charlotte FC in March 2022.

The Rams' financial issues meant that funds had to be quickly made available in the 2021/22 campaign, and at just 23, he was seen as an asset to the club's administrators as he made his way to the MLS.

While there would have been excitement from Jozwiak to leave behind a difficult time at Derby, the USA proved to be another struggle and, in February 2024, he moved to his fourth country in the space of four years, and he now plays in Spain for Granada.

He has made just under 20 appearances in his eight months with the La Liga 2 club, who suffered relegation from the top flight last season, and he will be hoping to finally settle in a team after years of unrest.