Agyemang & Morris will entertain & excite - Eustace

Patrick Agyemang and Carlton Morris are two of six summer signings made by Derby

Strikers Patrick Agyemang and Carlton Morris are "exciting" big-money Derby County additions who have been brought to Pride Park to "entertain", says Rams boss John Eustace.

United States international Agyemang signed from Major League Soccer side Charlotte FC on a deal that could rise to £7.3m - making him the most expensive addition since the club came out of administration three years ago - while getting Morris from Luton Town is understood to have also demanded a significant fee.

And while Eustance insists Derby's focus this season will be "stability" and avoiding a repeat of last term's narrow Championship relegation escape, he is also determined to see that this summer's splash of cash will come with a box-office payoff.

"Fans want to be entertained and I want to entertain them," Eustace told BBC Sport.

"I want to bring in the best players as possible to do that, and those two boys are good, exciting signings."

Eustace has spoken of his desire to get Derby to the Premier League since the day he took the top job at Pride Park.

In Morris, he has a striker who helped Luton Town reach the Premier League for the first time – top scoring for the little fancied Hatters with 20 goals when they reached the top flight via the Championship play-offs in 2023.

Agyemang was only starting his professional career in the same year, but within two years he went from being the 12th overall draft pick in the MLS to being called up by USA boss Mauricio Pochettino.

It was just over a week after he started for the USA in their Gold Cup final defeat by Mexico earlier in July that Derby signed the 24-year-old on a four-year deal.

Surgery on a long-standing hernia problem means Agyemang will miss the opening games of the season, but Eustace sees huge potential in the 6ft 4in forward.

"Patrick is the USA number nine at the moment. He had a good [Gold Cup] tournament, and he is at an age where if he comes over and trains in this environment, works with the coaches and works with good players like Carlton Morris and players like that, he will improve and get better," Eustace said.

"There will be no rush for him to come in and score goals straight away. The club has invested a good bit of money on him and it's important that in the next two or three seasons we really see him turn into a top striker at this level.

"He is quick, strong and powerful. With some good work into him I think he can be a real threat at this level. He is a really good asset to the club and I feel we can develop him and turn him into a Premier League striker."

Agyemang and Morris are two of six summer additions, with Liverpool left-back Owen Beck becoming the latest after arriving on a season-long loan.

Before Beck was confirmed on Friday, Eustace said he wanted at least "five or six" more recruits as he "looks to improve the team as much as we can" to build on last season's 19th-placed finish.

After overseeing three defeats in his first three matches, Eustace's Rams won six and drew three of their final 11 fixtures to stay up.

"When I came in, I said it's not a build for the short-term, it's a long-term build," he said.

"We have a couple of good signings now, but if we don't get any more exciting, big-money signings going into the season, it's no problem because the group will be ready and it's a gradual build.

"The principles that we brought in last season won't be any different to this season, we want to be very competitive, we want to be hard to play against and be very well organised.

"And when we can play nice attractive football, we can play that, but if we have to play dogged football, then we can do that."