Former West Brom defender makes return to game with Championship rival - and could face Baggies

The 36-year-old Dutchman, who was a free agent following the conclusion in January of a short-term stay at Luton where he failed to make an appearance, has joined the Rams squad after training with them in recent weeks.

Pieters, also formerly of Stoke and Burnley, won 14 Netherlands caps and arrived in English football when he joined the Potters from PSV Eindhoven in 2013, moved on to Burnley in 2019 before spending the last two seasons with the Baggies.

The veteran defender clocked up 61 appearances for Albion having been brought to the club as a free agent by Steve Bruce. Pieters, who spent most of his career as a left-back, was a valuable squad option both on the left and in the heart of defence before being released at the end of last season.

It is a second new addition for Derby under new boss John Eustace - and the second with a Baggies background - with forward Kemar Roofe arriving on a similar deal last month.

Walsall-born Roofe was an Albion academy product and with the club between 2009 and 2015 and eventually departed for Oxford United after a successful loan. After starring for the U's, Jamaica  international Roofe has forged an impressive career turning out for Leeds, Anderlecht in Belgium and Rangers.

Derby are currently fighting for survival in the Championship, lying in 22nd place, a point adrift of safety. The Rams visit The Hawthorns on Easter Monday, in what is the third to last fixture of the season.