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Tuesday, November 18, 2008, 07:30
The Welsh international finished the 2005-6 campaign in the side under caretaker boss Terry Westley but Billy Davies sent the defender out on loan to Sunderland and Barnsley.
Nyatanga spent virtually all of last season back at Barnsley and the longer he stayed away from the club, the more it looked like his future could be away from Pride Park.
He has a strange career profile for a 20-year-old.
His 51 appearances for Derby does not overhaul his contributions to other clubs – 11 games for Sunderland and 55 for Barnsley in three spells on loan at Oakwell.
Add to that 21 caps for Wales plus 10 at Under-21 level and he has a significant level of experience, especially given the calibre of opponent he has faced.
In internationals against Brazil, Germany and Holland he found himself up against a number of the top forwards in world football – names like Robinho, Klose and van Nistelrooy.
Nyatanga should take confidence from his CV but, at times, he still looks uncertain in the hurly-burly of the Championship.
This is understandable given his age and the fact he has had to cope with being a Derby player one minute and out on loan the next.
He is still learning the game but says he is a much wiser person now having dealt with the ups and downs of football in the past three years.
Martin Albrechtsen and Dean Leacock are recognised as Derby's first-choice centre-backs but injuries to the pair have opened the door for Nyatanga and signs have been there in recent games that he is growing in confidence.
His performance in the Carling Cup victory over Leeds a week ago was arguably his best of the season and on Saturday he and Claude Davis helped to shut out Sheffield Wednesday to record only the Rams' second clean sheet in the Championship.
The pair will face tougher tests than the tame threat posed by Wednesday strikers Akpo Sodje and Leon Clarke but should be lifted by the clean sheet.
As an observer who has watched Nyatanga's every kick in a Derby shirt I feel the next step in his development is for him to be more assertive on the pitch. Top centre-backs are seen and heard.
Paul Jewell is scouring the loan market in a bid to bolster his squad and sees centre-back as a department where numbers are light.
But the manager has also shown himself to be true to his word when he says if a player gets a chance and performs, he will keep his place.
That is the challenge facing Nyatanga.
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TAKING HIS CHANCE: Lewin Nyatanga gets the better of Gabriel Agbonlahor playing for Wales U-21s against England.
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