The Rams have been looking for a number nine, and here’s what occurred when the team tried to sign one.
When Paul Warne drew up his striker list as Derby County approached deadline day, it became clear that there are no secrets in transfer negotiations.
He had discovered that three other Championship managers were all pursuing the same forwards, and it was no surprise that money talks. Three centre forwards were on Derby’s list when their parent clubs made them available, but when demand exceeds supply, as we saw with Oasis tickets, prices begin to rise to uncomfortably high levels.
One of the strikers that Derby’s head coach was interested in ended up going for roughly three times his actual income at his original club, but such was the lunacy of the window and the club’s need to recruit strikers, they paid it.
These kinds of demands were frequent last summer, particularly among centre forwards, who may often mean the difference between success and failure when it comes to your goals. Former Derby manager Gary Rowett stated in a recent blog that he spent six transfer windows at Millwall seeking for the proper number nine and still did not find one. However, in addition to money challenges, Derby had other issues.
They were notified about a striker at another Championship team on deadline day, and Warne spent time speaking with the player’s agent. There was initial optimism that a move to Derby would be appealing. However, the player in issue ultimately rejected the move because he wanted to stay and fight for his position. Warne thought that was fair enough, and hinted that Derby might return in January if he still hasn’t forced his way into the lineup.
Derby did try for a striker throughout the window, and Warne was quick to point out that he had no disrespect for the players who are currently in the building; however, they wanted one who could improve the team rather than pay a high price for someone who would simply fill out the squad numbers.
“We wanted another striker in, and our job is to improve the 11,” he told Derbyshire Live. “If I could have found a better centre forward than Jerry Yates, he would have been on the bench on Saturday. Unfortunately, that is what elite sports are like. In the end, it was not meant to be. I know it’s a hot topic among everyone, and people become preoccupied with what you don’t have. But it’s what I have that matters, and I have a lot of pace, passion, and resolve to win.”
The money in many transactions are, of course, the most important aspect of any move, but clubs are nevertheless paying increasingly high prices. Agents were asking for substantial numbers, loan fees had risen, and there were agreements on the table that could materialize, but only if the player in question was paid more than he was now earning at his parent club.
That, in a nutshell, encapsulates the craziness of this window, which Derbyshire Live described as “absolutely brutal”. The team has been looking for a striker for the past three transfer windows, especially one who can lead the attack long-term. Last season was more difficult because the team was still subject to transfer fee limits, which some have overlooked in a club that is still rebuilding from the ashes of administration.
However, Derby’s promotion to the Championship, as well as the completion of the two-year business plan agreed upon with the EFL following the club’s recovery from the biggest financial crisis in its history, have freed the club from financial constraints.
However, having been financially burnt in the past, Derby’s transfer fee outlay this summer has effectively equaled what they collected from sell-on clauses, which is approximately £2.7 million. Spending what you make is the most sustainable way to run a business, and in a perfect world, every club would follow this motto. Unfortunately, they do not, which means that the boom and bust culture persists, and Derby has no desire to be a part of it again.
“If you have unlimited finances, you can have anything you want,” Warne told Derbyshire Live. “That is the rule of the jungle. There aren’t many clubs in the Championship with that type of money, but if I wanted to recruit Mo Salah, for example, and pay Liverpool a billion pounds, he’d be here, right?
“That is the honest truth. The players we were looking for were not necessarily the club’s number one striker, but they were among the top two or three. However, there is a portion of every management that enjoys the fact that the window has shut. While the players we were chasing were not in the starting lineup, the managers still wanted them in the building unless you paid exorbitant fees.
“You are the mercy of parent clubs. Sometimes you can just throw crazy coin at it and some teams did do that. We weren’t that team and, in fairness, and without too much present history, it was the right thing to do. We have to think about the health of the football club and think of what we do have.”
If finances were not an issue for Derby, other clubs’ events proved problematic. Ali Al-Hamadi was a player they had long admired, but he stayed at Ipswich after their own search for a striker came to an end when a move for Chelsea’s Armando Broja fell through due to a medical issue.
Derby would have surely joined the queue if they had been convinced that he could escape Portman Road. However, the impact of not signing a striker extended beyond incomings to include outgoings.
Twelve clubs in League One and Two were interested in Dajaune Brown, but Derby failed to get their own forward in. As it stands, Derby will continue on with Jerry Yates, James Collins, Brown, and Conor Washington until the window opens again in January. They will surely reconsider their alternatives, but in the chaotic world of football transfers, prices frequently rise because it is mid-season and the fun will begin all over again.