Inigo Idiakez made 85 appearances for Derby County between 2004 and 2006

Derby County have been given permission to speak to ex-midfielder Inigo Idiakez about joining as first-team coach.

The 42-year-old has been a youth coach at Leicester City since 2013 and has also been linked with joining Wolves.

"[Permission] has been granted. It's whether we can take it any further," said Derby manager Nigel Pearson.

"If we can secure the deal then he'll bring different ideas and different coaching methods to what we've already got here and I think that's important."

Idiakez, who played for the Rams between 2004 and 2006 after joining from Rayo Vallecano, completed his coaching qualifications following his retirement in 2008.

"He would be working with the first team," Pearson told BBC East Midlands Today. "That's not the reason for me wanting to add him to the backroom staff here. How we build a group of staff is with the same ethos as how we build a squad.

"We want the best people available to be the team behind the team. There's a way to go yet."

The Spaniard played under Pearson at Southampton in 2008 and assisted former manager George Burley at Cypriot side Apollon Limassol in 2012.

"He's a very good coach. That's really all I need to say. He's somebody I've worked with as a player and I worked with him [as a coach] at Leicester," continued Pearson.

"If we can secure the deal then he'll bring different ideas and different coaching methods to what we've already got here and I think that's important."