How Max Bird is faring at Bristol City since leaving Derby County in the summer

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Of all the players that left Derby County in the summer, waving goodbye to academy graduate Max Bird was the hardest of the lot.

Max Bird started his journey in the Derby County academy at the age of nine and soon blossomed into a first-team star.

The 24-year-old went on to make 200 appearances for the Rams after making his senior debut in 2017, scoring 10 goals and supplying 17 assists.

His last contribution – and perhaps most important – came on the final day of last season as Bird scored a screamer against Carlisle United to help Derby seal automatic promotion.

Watching him leave the club for good this summer left a tear in the eyes of most supporters, who will wish him nothing but success at Bristol City.

• READ MORE: Four Derby County players who could be on the move in January, including ‘quality’ talent 

How is Max Bird faring at Bristol City?

Bristol City signed Bird on a permanent deal in the January transfer window but the all-action midfielder returned to Pride Park on loan till the end of the season.

Now, the Englishman has since established himself as a Championship talent for the Robins, with Bird starting in all but two games.

The former Derby star has helped his new club to 11 points from their opening nine games, which places them one point and four places below the Rams.

Position	Team	Played MP	Won W	Drawn D	Lost L	For GF	Against GA	Diff GD	Points Pts
8	BlackburnBlackburn	9	4	3	2	15	11	4	15
9	MiddlesbroughMiddlesbrough	9	4	2	3	10	7	3	14
10	Oxford UnitedOxford United	9	3	3	3	13	11	2	12
11	SwanseaSwansea	9	3	3	3	8	6	2	12
12	DerbyDerby	9	4	0	5	12	12	0	12
13	Hull CityHull City	9	3	3	3	12	13	-1	12
14	PlymouthPlymouth	9	3	2	4	10	13	-3	11
15	Sheffield WednesdaySheffield Wednesday	9	3	2	4	11	15	-4	11
16	Bristol CityBristol City	9	2	5	2	10	14	-4	11

Key:

Position 1 – 2 : Promotion
Position 3 – 6 : Promotion Playoffs
Position 22 – 24 : Relegation

So far, Bird has recorded his only goal involvement in a 4-3 win over Millwall in August, where he registered two assists and was dubbed ‘hugely impressive’ by Bristol Live in their player ratings.

And while he’s started seven of their games, he’s dropped to the bench in the last two and Paul Warne perhaps hasn’t missed him as much as he thought he would.

• READ MORE: Five Derby County players at risk of Championship suspension after the international break

Kenzo Goudmijn is an upgrade on Max Bird

Warne invested well in midfield this summer after losing the likes of Bird, Conor Hourihane and Korey Smith, replacing them with David Ozoh, Kenzo Goudmijn, Ben Osborn and Ebou Adams.

It’s a midfield that possesses the perfect blend of strength, athlectism, ball-winning and playmaking skills.

Goudmijn – who was captured from AZ Alkmaar for £600,000 – is the most similar to Bird in profile and is arguably an upgrade on the Englishman.

The Dutch maestro has enjoyed an incredible start to his Derby career by not only netting two goals but also bettering Bird across a number of creative and shooting metrics.

Supporters were sad to see Bird leave permanently but with the money received, Derby have struck gold with the signing of Goudmijn, and the above table explains why.