Four Derby County players the club wish they had never sold
Derby County news from DerbyshireLive takes a look at the players that Derby fans may have wished to keep hold of in the last 10 years
Derby County have done some big business over the last 10 years in terms of transfers but there are always players you look back at with regret.
Sometimes it’s hard to turn down the cash, other times it is even more difficult to convince a player to stay when there is the offer of Premier League football.
But when you lose players of real quality, it naturally has an impact on the team and it always begs the eternal question as to what Derby could have achieved if they had stayed.
Having come through the club’s academy system before going on to enjoy first-team success, Hughes was sold to Watford in 2017 for an initial £5m, rising by a further £4m if various add-ons were met.
At the time of his departure, Derby were pushing for promotion under Gary Rowett and while Derby reached the playoffs, the following season, they couldn’t get across the line as they were eventually beaten by Fulham in the semi-finals. Hughes would later go on to play for Watford in the top flight, and, when they were relegated, he played a critical role in their return to the top table of English football.
Crystal Palace eventually came knocking, and Hughes has been a key performer for the Eagles this season, making 30 appearances in all competitions. Had he stayed at Derby, though, and played on the team that made the playoffs in the following season, he may have secured the Premier League promotion with Derby that he craved.
Matej Vydra
The striker had an incredible season in the 2017-18 campaign as he finished with 21 goals in the Championship earning him the golden boot.
Predictably, that kind of form was always going to lead to interest from clubs in the top flight, and so it was Burnley who laid the cash on the table. An £11m offer proved too good to refuse for Derby, who regrettably had to part company with top scorer.
He had been an integral part of why they finished sixth in the table under Rowett but just didn’t quite have enough in the squad to seal promotion.
When Rowett left for Stoke in May 2018, Frank Lampard was appointed manager and he did a wonderful job of guiding the club to the playoff final which they subsequently lost to Aston Villa.
Some strong Premier League loans, in Harry Wilson, Mason Mount, and Fikayo Tomori, undeniably helped them, but the absence of a 20-goal forward may have been enough to turn Derby into promotion winners. Had Vyrdra remained under Lampard who knows what the club would have gone on to achieve.
Jeff Hendrick
Another player who ended up leaving for Burnley, although that move took place a couple of seasons before Vydra hot-footed it to Turf Moor.
At the time of his exit, Hendrick had built an excellent reputation as an all-action midfielder who could chip in with the odd goal.
He was key to Derby reaching the playoffs in 2014 and 2016, and it was perhaps inevitable that the longer the Rams missed out on top-flight football, the more susceptible they would have been to offers.
