Tom Barkhuizen

Tom Barkhuizen became the first signing of the Clowes Developments (UK) Ltd era when he penned a two-year contract with Derby County in the summer of 2022.

The versatile forward joined the Rams following the announcement that David Clowes’ company had successfully completed their takeover of the football club.

Barkhuizen began his career at Blackpool and was offered professional terms after impressing in their youth set-up.

He had spells out on loan at Hereford United and Fleetwood Town in League Two to gain first-team experience before returning to Bloomfield Road to feature in the Championship for Blackpool during the 2013/14 and 2014/15 seasons.

Another spell out on loan, this time at Morecambe, resulted in Barkhuizen signing for the Shrimps on permanent basis ahead of the 2015/16 season after playing 27 times and scoring twice for Blackpool.

He went on to play 69 times for Morecambe, scoring on 17 occasions, before returning to the Championship in January 2017 with Preston North End.

Barkhuizen played just over 200 times for North End over five-and-a-half seasons, netting 37 goals, before leaving Deepdale at the end of his contract at the end of the 2021/22 season.

It didn’t take long for him to grab his first goal in a Rams shirt either, scoring in a 2-1 victory away at Mansfield Town in the First Round of the Carabao Cup in early August.

That goal would be the first of six he would score in his first season with the Rams whilst also providing five assists across 48 games in all competitions.

Despite a couple of injuries hampering his progress in the promotion-winning 2023/24 season, he still managed to rack up an impressive 43 appearances and activated an extension on his contract for a further year. Barkhuizen also improved on his statistic line during his second campaign in Derbyshire, scoring eight times whilst providing six assists as the Rams sealed promotion back to the Championship.