Whilst Derby County's attack took many of the plaudits at the full-time whistle of the 3-0 Port Vale victory and indeed the 3-0 win over Bristol Rovers yesterday, the stern Rams defence at Pride Park were vital on both occasions to ensuring the three points felt like a walk in the park to collect.

Darren Moore's Valiants were anything but their namesake in Derbyshire, the away side failing to register a single on-target shot at Joe Wildsmith's goal as the Derby defence confidently picked up another clean sheet alongside the win.

Whilst Eiran Cashin's name often steals the headlines at the back, alongside Sonny Bradley's face being known from his Luton Town days in the Championship, Curtis Nelson has arguably gone underappreciated from the outside looking in as the other centre-back option often utilised by Paul Warne.

Curtis Nelson's transfer value at Derby County

The former Cardiff City man could definitely be viewed as a transfer steal now when you evaluate his fantastic season to date for the automatic promotion candidates, Nelson yet to miss one game full stop for Warne's Rams machine this campaign.

Signed on a free transfer after his contract was up at Blackpool, the 30-year-old's transfer value for Derby now sits at €1.1M (£941k) to prove that the third-tier side were correct swooping in for their now star number 35 when they did.

Nelson would trudge off the pitch in the Vale win having amassed 86 touches playing out from the back, on top of winning six duels to preserve his team's clean sheet on the day without much fuss.

Surprisingly, Nelson's transfer value does see him now come in as having a higher worth in the Rams camp than that of Nathaniel Mendez-Laing.

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Formerly on the Cardiff books himself before a move to Pride Park materialised back in 2022, Mendez-Laing has been a nuisance all season long for League One defences to attempt to nullify.

The experienced attacker is onto nine goals and 18 assists from 41 total appearances in all competitions this season, taking his full Derby goal contributions tally to an impressive 46.

Yet, Nelson still boasts a heftier value next to his name than Derby's main attacking force.

Curtis Nelson's transfer value compared to the Derby squad.

Nelson, who has been described as a "colossal" figure by his manager, comes in as Derby's fourth most expensive player currently according to Football Transfers.

The imposing centre-back is €600k (£513k) short of toppling both Eiran Cashin and Ryan Nyambe tied in second place above him, whilst Max Bird – who has won a move to the Championship with Bristol City at the end of the campaign – tops the list with a €2m value.

Player

Transfer value

1. Max Bird

€2M

2. Eiran Cashin

€1.7M

3. Ryan Nyambe

€1.7M

4. Curtis Nelson

€1.1M

5. Sonny Bradley

€0.9M

Mendez-Laing's lesser €0.8M value means the electric forward finds himself just outside the top five as can be seen in the table above, with the Rams brimming full of top assets that they'll hope can steer them to promotion finally back up to the Championship.

Nelson will aim to stick it out as one of Warne's reliable first names on the teamsheet until now and the end of the campaign alongside the 31-year-old winger, the towering 6 foot centre-back wanting to shine even brighter if his team make the potential jump up a division.