Championship outfit Derby County are looking at striker Amari Morgan-Smith, the man County gave a contract to back in 2007 after he won a competition entitled "Just Search for a County star". Morgan-Smith is currently contracted to Blue Square North side Ilkeston Town.

The 21-year-old striker bagged 25 goals last season as Ilkeston Town finished 8th in their respective League and he has joined Nigel Clough's side in the hope of earning a permanent transfer to Pride Park. Amari has played in two friendlies so far for the Rams, a 1-1 draw away at Southend and a 1-0 win at Burton Albion.

Morgan-Smith arrived at Edgeley Park in August 2007 alongside defender Craig Flowers after the pair had won a competition which was run in conjunction with the clubs sponsors Just Search. 150 people took part in two days trials at the clubs Manor Farm training ground before that number was whittled down to just 23. Those 23 youngsters took part in an 11-a-side friendly match and Morgan-Smith and Flowers were picked out from that group of players by a panel of judges including manager Jim Gannon and youth development manager Alan Lord as potential stars of the future.

Both players were handed one-year professional contracts after winning the competition although things didn't quite work out for the youngsters at Edgeley Park. Amari made just one appearance for the Hatters with that coming during an end of season game against Brentford at Edgeley Park. County won that match 1-0 with the youngster coming on as a substitute for Leon McSweeney in the 66th minute. He actually looked quite useful on his debut although he was released just a month later after County had won promotion to League One via the Play-offs. Gannon had obviously seen a lack of progress from the youngster in training during his ten months with the club and had felt that he wouldn't make an impression in a higher division.

Following his departure from Edgeley Park he joined Ilkeston Town and last season he was a big hit after scoring 22 goals in the League and 3 goals in the FA Cup. In the 2008/09 season he scored just 8 goals with 6 of those goals coming in Ilkeston's first 7 matches.

Derby take on League One side Bournemouth tonight and Morgan-Smith will be hoping for another run out as he aims to get another crack at League football after an un-successful spell with County.

Stats courtesy of Ilsonfootball

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