Players of his class are few and far between Tom Sears on Langer

"We want someone with the character to command instant respect and who is also a world-class player.

"We've talked to a number of people in the game and the name we keep coming back to is Justin," chief executive Tom Sears told BBC Sport.

Derbyshire expect to face opposition from other clubs, but hope the offer of the captaincy will be a selling point.

"There's no doubt he could go to another county and have a better chance of winning trophies.

"But he won't be able to go anywhere and have more influence over the development of the team and of the club.

"We have under-achieved and we want him to work with (Director of Cricket) Dave Houghton and take us forward," said Sears.

Langer, who had a spell in county cricket with Middlesex in 1998, has scored more than 7,000 runs in 93 Tests, including 22 centuries.

After beginning his international career in 1993, he reinvented himself as an opener during the 2001 Ashes tour to England and his partnership with Matthew Hayden is one of the most successful in history.

The 34-year-old will play for Australia in the ICC Super Series Test against a World XI later this month and is also awaiting the birth of his fourth child.

He has told Derbyshire he expected to make a decision about next summer in six to eight weeks time.

"I can guarantee Derbyshire supporters that if Justin decides he doesn't want to take up the challenge it will not be because we can't compete financially with other counties - we have set aside the resources to make this happen," Sears added.

Luke Sutton, Derbyshire's skipper for the past two seasons, has left the club and is expected to join Lancashire.