Jeff Hendrick reacts when asked about his Derby County future | OneFootball

The midfielder re-joined the Rams in March, but he is yet to feature in the team.

Jeff Hendrick has revealed that he is open to staying at Derby County past this season if the club start talks with him about a new contract.

The midfielder re-joined the Rams in March after leaving for Burnley in August 2016 for £10.5m - a Clarets club record at the time.

Since then, he has spent time in the Premier League with the Lancashire outfit, before moving to Newcastle United in 2020, with whom he spent four years playing for. However, he did have two loan spells during this time, featuring for QPR, Reading and Sheffield Wednesday.

He had been without a club throughout this season until John Eustace made the call to bring back his former teammate to Pride Park, but it has not been quite as he would have hoped, with the 33-year-old spending his first month at the club as an unused substitution.

Nevertheless, that has not stopped Hendrick from pushing to secure his future at Derby.

Hendrick comments on his next steps with Derby

The last few years have been tough for the ex-Republic of Ireland international, and he has found it difficult to remain settled with his loan moves taking him across the country.

However, now back at Derby, the club that he first called home in 2008 after leaving St Kevin’s Boys in his home city of Dublin, he is not ready to hang up the boots just yet, with his eyes already on next season.

Speaking to BBC Radio Derby ahead of his side's clash with his former team Burnley on Tuesday, he responded to a question about his future at Pride Park, and whether he could sign a new deal for the 2025/26 season if the Rams are relegated or not.

He said: "I don't think it depends on what division we're in, really. It sort of if the club feel like they need me here next year and want me here next year, then we can have that chat.

"For me though, it was about coming in for these seven weeks, or whatever it was, and help the club stay in the league, really, and then we'll see after that."

It seems unlikely at this moment in time that Hendrick will stay with Derby

With his chances of getting into the starting XI this season extremely slim, Hendrick will have to work extremely hard on the training ground to prove to Eustace why he must be handed a new deal in the summer.

The Rams need to lower the average age of the squad in the transfer window for a multitude of reasons, and at 33, it makes more sense for him to be cut adrift than to be held on to - especially if he is not guaranteed minutes.

Derby have to be cut-throat, whether they are a Championship or League One team in 2025/26, and this starts with the decisions over who is given extensions on their contracts and who is not.

If Hendrick can find a way to have an impact in the final weeks of the season, then maybe he could secure another year - but the Rams would be in the right to let go of him.