Jerry Yates still waiting for his first Derby County goal since arriving on loan from Swansea City in the summer.
Yates joined Derby with the pedigree of scoring goals in the Championship.
The 27-year-old plundered 14 goals for Blackpool during the 2022/23 campaign while in the following, Yates scored eight for Swansea City.
The Englishman is still waiting to get off the mark at his new club, failing to score in each of his seven starts this season.
Derby assistant manager Richie Barker came to the defence of Yates recently, as many criticised him for not finding the net and that is normally how strikers are judged.
While it’s still early days in the season, the pacey striker will want to score his first goal sooner rather than later, and Malcolm Christie thinks he will.
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Malcolm Christie tips Jerry Yates to be a success at Derby County
Former Derby striker Christie knows all about barren spells as a striker. He appeared for the Rams on 135 occasions during the late 90’s and early 00’s, scoring 35 goals in the process.
Much like Yates, though, it took a while for the Stamford-born forward to get off the mark in the Premier League, with Christie recalling the time it took him 18 games to score in England’s top flight.
Although some fans will worry that will be the case for Yates, the 45-year-old backs the Derby loanee to break his duck sooner rather than later, citing that he’s simply ‘too good’ to go much longer without scoring.
“He offers an awful lot beyond that but he’ll be wanting to get on the scoresheet. If anyone knows my career, I went eighteen games in the Premier League without scoring,” Christie said on BBC Radio Derby’s Sportscene.
“He will not get to eighteen games because he’s just too good a player. I just hope in the games coming up, that’s buried and after that we’ll see a different version of Jerry Yates”
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Derby shouldn’t expect miracles from Jerry Yates
At any level of football, never mind the Championship, it is handy having a striker who can hit at least double figures for goals.
In the case of Yates, he’s shown he can do that before, particularly at Blackpool, but he’s struggled to show that cutting edge at Pride Park.
Derby fans shouldn’t worry about his lack of returns however, as he isn’t the only player struggling to provide a regular source of goals.
Warne’s current top scorers Kayden Jackson, Curtis Nelson and Kenzo Goudmijn are all tied on two goals, which shows the Rams are capable of scoring goals from anywhere.
It would be nice for Yates to start contributing, though, and perhaps once he gets off the mark, he’ll discover a new-found confidence that can see him become the main man in attack.