As 30 June had seen the final day of a number of players contracts, 1 July also saw the official departure of Dwight Gayle, Conor Hourihane, Scott Loach, Korey Smith, Martyn Waghorn, and Joe Wildsmith from the first team as had been announced via the release of the club's retained list six-weeks previously.

[7] The third and fourth signings of the summer followed the next day, with Kayden Jackson arriving on a free transfer following his release by Ipswich Town[8] and Jerry Yates coming in on a season-long loan from Swansea City.

[12] Derby's first Championship game in two years came on Friday 9 August with a trip to Ewood Park to play Blackburn Rovers.

The match saw the full debuts of Kenzo Goudmijn, David Ozoh, Ben Osborn, and Kayden Jackson but ended in a 4–2 defeat despite the game being level at 1–1 with 20 minutes remaining.

Paul Warne put the late collapse down to Blackburn's substitutes saying 'They changed it and brought on cheat codes all over the place.

Derby's first week back in the second tier ended with the announcement that the club has completed its protracted pursuit of Djurgårdens IF Sweden international goalkeeper Jacob Widell Zetterström for an undisclosed fee rumoured to be around £1.4m.

As Warne continued in his attempts to strengthen the squad, the club signed Wolves winger Tawanda Chirewa on a season-long loan on 26 August.

[78] Win Draw Loss Fixtures Derby County entered the FA Cup at the third round stage, and were drawn away to Leyton Orient.