Derby County have officially announced the free transfer of Sonny Bradley from Luton Town and the signing of attacker Conor Washington from Rotherham United for an undisclosed fee, over on the official club website. 

Sonny Bradley has made 450 appearances in club football, playing in all of the various divisions in the EFL. Conor Washington has made just under 500 club appearances, netting 161 goals along the way.

Who Are The New Boys?

Sonny Bradley began his career in the Hull City youth ranks, making his eventual way to the first team where he made two appearances for The Tigers. He also had loan spells at Harrogate Town and IK Frej as well as further two loan spells with Aldershot Town.

In 2013, he made the switch to the South Coast and signed for Portsmouth. He ended up making 33 appearances in his one-year stay with the club.

He moved on from Pompey and signed for Crawley Town where he enjoyed a two-year stay making 72 appearances for the Reds.

Bradley moved then to Devon, signing for Plymouth Argyle and plying his trade with the Pilgrims. He made 84 appearances, scoring 11 goals in two years. To this day, this is still a career best for the 31-year old centre-back.

Sonny then moved to at the time League One Luton Town, making 163 appearances in total for the Hatters. He would achieve two promotions as well as receiving the captain’s armband and becoming a major fan favourite during the stint.

It was announced he would be leaving the Hatters after their promotion to the Premier League and has now joined League One side Derby County.

Conor Washington began his career at St Ives Town, rising through the youth ranks. He went on to make 80 appearances for club, scoring 54 goals.

The striker sealed a move to Newport County after a stellar three seasons at St Ives Towns He made the move to Wales and played 34 times for the Exiles, scoring 5 goals.

He joined Peterborough United and during his two year spell played 82 games scoring 27 goals for the Posh.

His next move then saw Washington move up a division to the Championship with QPR. The step-up saw him play 92 games over two seasons and score 13 goals.

He moved to Sheffield United in 2018 and was a part of their promotion squad to the Premier League. However, he would only make 15 overall appearances for the Blades and failed to register a single goal.

In an effort to rekindle his form, Conor moved up to Scotland where he signed for Hearts making 15 appearances and scoring three goals.

Conor finally settled down and signed for Charlton in 2020. He spent two years with the Addicks, playing 72 times and scoring 22 goals.

In 2022, Conor signed for Championship side Rotherham United. Current Derby manager Paul Warne signed Conor for Rotherham before he departed for Derby, and he has once again been reunited with the attacker in this new move.

What can Derby fans expect?

Sonny Bradley is a big, powerful, demanding centre half with a wealth of EFL experience which will certainly help the Rams in their search for promotion back up to the Championship.

Conor Washington is also a very experienced attacker who’s plied his trade in Scotland as well as England. He has been a prolific striker at stages in his career and could be viewed as a suitable replacement for David McGoldrick.

Writer’s view

In my Opinion, Paul Warne has identified and signed two well-oiled players with bags of experience. Sonny and Conor are certainly two great signings for the level and will add the quality necessary for the Rams to chase promotion once more.