James Collins will be part of Derby County’s Sky Bet Championship return in the 2024/25 season.
Collins, who scored 19 goals in the Rams’ automatic promotion from Sky Bet League One in the 2023/24 campaign, has penned a new one-year deal which will run until the summer of 2025.
The experienced 33-year-old was out of contract at the end of June and had been in talks in recent weeks about extending his stay at Pride Park Stadium.
Collins joined Derby in the summer of 2022 from Cardiff City and in two seasons with the Rams in the third tier he found the net 32 times from 98 appearances in all competitions.
His first year in black and white saw him score 12 times from 52 appearances, before spearheading the side to promotion last term with 19 goals in 46 outings overall.
That total would have been higher but for a knee injury sustained in February, which Collins battled back from to score Derby’s final goal of the campaign in the 2-0 home victory over Carlisle United as promotion back to the Championship was confirmed.
While he was unable to contribute for a short period, Collins remained an instrumental and key figure around the dressing room and on matchdays as Paul Warne’s side set two club records - for points achieved in a season and away wins in a campaign - on their way to promotion.
The 2023/24 season proved to be a memorable one for Collins on both a team and personal basis as he finished as the side’s leading goalscorer.
He hit the 200-goal mark in club football in Derby’s victory at Carlisle in the early stages of the season, while the promotion with the Rams was his sixth in the EFL in his career to date.
His time at Derby has also seen him surpass 600 appearances in club football.
