Paul Warne will not rest on Derby County’s promotion this summer, as he detailed ambitions to upgrade his squad via a recruitment push before the Rams return to the Championship in August.

Derby achieved promotion to League One on the penultimate day of the season, averaging two points per match over 46 games, with a convincing victory against Carlisle United. It brings an end to a two-year spell in the third tier, and the focus is now squarely on how the squad will be constructed in the coming weeks and months.

Warne has already visited with potential Derby players and plans to continue this process in the near future. The Rams manager also revealed intentions for him and his staff to travel to the continent to conduct personal checks on players who have been identified as prospective targets.

Trips to the Netherlands and Denmark have been scheduled as the club’s efforts to add to their squad, in order to hit the ground running when the Championship season begins, increase.

“Planning is a word that covers a lot of stuff, really,” remarked Warne. “We’ve held recruitment meetings since January. We attempted to sign players during the January window. To be fair, I’ve hammered it for the previous few weeks, saying don’t recruit for League One, try to recruit for the Champ, and if we don’t get promoted automatically, we’ll have a two-week window to rejig the roster.

“Say we were looking for ten strikers; the best three are Champions only, the bottom three are League One only, and the middle four are either or. When it comes to Championship and League One lists, they’re all rather similar. Talking with agents and watching games have all taken place.

“We have to look at the free list, which everyone else will look at, but the Championship one won’t be available until the end of the month. My colleagues and I will be attending games in Holland and Denmark to watch these particular players. I met a player yesterday and will meet another one either today or next week.

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