Samuel Szmodics

Sammie Szmodics is a 30-year-old English attacking midfielder currently playing for Derby County in the EFL Championship. He arrived at Pride Park in February 2026, a move that followed a high-profile £10.6 million transfer earlier in his career, and his addition gave Derby a player with proven Championship pedigree and a League One title on his CV.

Szmodics has slotted straight into Derby's starting eleven, featuring in all five of the matches captured here and completing the full 90 minutes in two of them. His most impactful moment came at Portsmouth, where he scored the only goal of the game in a 1-0 away win, logging a match rating of 7.24 in the process. Across the five fixtures his ratings have been consistently solid, ranging from 6.52 to 7.31, suggesting he is contributing to build-up play and pressing even when the goals are not coming. The one blip was a 6.52 at Southampton, a match Derby lost 2-1, where he was unable to influence the result despite playing the full game.

Within Derby's system he appears to operate as a central creative outlet, tasked with linking midfield to attack and creating chances in tight Championship spaces. His season-level data is still minimal given the recency of his arrival, but the match-by-match picture points to a player who has settled quickly. SportSignals' AI analysis engine has tracked Derby across several of these fixtures, and the team has shown a pattern of narrow, low-scoring results, with three of the last five decided by a single goal.

In Derby's next outing, it will be worth monitoring whether Szmodics can add a goal or assist to complement the consistent ratings he has been posting. His movement between the lines and willingness to press from the front have been notable, and how opposition defences choose to manage him in central areas could shape how much space Derby's wider players find.