Iñigo Idiakez says he has a ‘great feeling’ about the mixture of qualities across Derby County’s coaching team as they prepare to intensify their plans for their 2016/17 season.

Tomorrow will see the club’s first team head out to Portugal for a week-long training camp in the Algarve.

This week will represent the first full week that Idiakez will undertake as a fully-fledged First Team Coach back at Derby, where he was a player and fans favourite between 2004 and 2006.

He joined the club from Premier League Champions Leicester City last Friday and has quickly settled back into his surroundings at the Training Centre in partnership with the University of Derby, working alongside Nigel Pearson, the Manager, Chris Powell, the Assistant Manager, Kevin Phillips and Goalkeeping Coach Pascal Zuberbühler.

Idiakez says he and the rest of the coaching set-up are working hard on the playing style they want their players to operate with and are leaving no stone unturned in their quest to have Derby firing on all cylinders come the start of the campaign.

He told Rams Player HD: “I want to add something special to the team if I can and help them in any way I can to help this group of players achieve their goals.





“We have a good mix across us. We’re all ex-football players and we are in the process of thinking about how we want our team to play, how we want our team to win games and we will be working together to cover all aspects of the game.





“It’s working great to be honest. I have a great feeling about what we have got going here.”

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After a week of double sessions – undertaking both fitness and football work – Derby’s squad will get into match action for the first time later this week.

Two games are pencilled in the Rams, who will compete for the Algarve Football Cup against Vitoria Setubal and Benfica.

The former will be played on Friday, before Derby take on the Portuguese Champions 24 hours later on the Saturday (both 8:30pm kick-offs).

Idiakez says he is excited to see what qualities Pearson’s squad display in match action.

He added: “We are going to Portugal this week and as a player I wanted the games to come around as quickly as possible and I have that same feeling as a coach.





“Pre-season can be really boring over the first couple of weeks as a player when you are just building your fitness up and just want to play games, but we will have our first games out there this week.





“Those games are like blood in veins so we all can’t wait to get started and see what qualities this team really has.”





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