Derby County must avoid repeating Norwich City transfer that ended in early exit

Derby County started the first half of the 2017/18 campaign excellently and under the guidance of Gary Rowett, they were marching towards a top-six finish.

Despite a slightly inconsistent first couple of months, the Rams were near-perfect throughout December and they accelerated towards the automatic promotion spots, chasing after a relentless Wolverhampton Wanderers.

Former owner, Mel Morris, seemingly saw this as one of his final opportunities to win promotion to the Premier League after trying and failing in each of his three full seasons in charge of the club and he freed up funds for the January transfer window.

Derby had enjoyed a successful summer, bringing in the likes of Andre Wisdom, Curtis Davies, and Tom Lawrence – three players who all had a great impact not only when they first arrived, but also in the years following.

However, one of Rowett’s winter signings did not quite have the same level of success.

Derby overspent on Jerome

Matej Vydra was on fire throughout 2017/18, and he was finding the back of the net consistently for the Rams. However, there was a desire to bring in another forward to help ease any potential pressure off the Czech star.

Cameron Jerome was the East Midlands side’s first signing of the January window, joining from Norwich City for a reported £1.5m on an 18-month contract.

The then 31-year-old became the club’s fifth striker, with Chris Martin, who was later sent out on loan to Reading, David Nugent, Darren Bent, and Sam Winnall also available, while Vydra operated just behind any one of them.

Nevertheless, Rowett had prioritised bringing in the ex-Stoke City man but the cost seemed far too high due to his age and with his contract having just over a year left on it.

However, his goal record in the division was good, and supporters were hoping that he would be able to keep it up in black-and-white to help continue with their march towards the Premier League for the first time in a decade.

Jerome came off the bench in his first two games against Bristol City and Millwall, both 0-0 draws, before finally getting his first start against Brentford as Derby ran out 3-0 winners in a dominant performance.

He netted a brace in a 3-1 win, before firing in early away to Aston Villa in a 1-1 draw at Villa Park in his side’s second-to-last regular game of the season. Derby knew that victory against Barnsley, who were fighting against relegation, would secure a play-off place, and they eased past the Tykes.

The 31-year-old scored for the fourth time in three games, ensuring that the Rams would face Fulham in the play-offs.

Jerome got the East Midlands side off to an incredible start, heading in to give Rowett’s team a 1-0 lead on aggregate heading into the second leg at Craven Cottage, but their opponents had too much quality, and they ran out 2-1 winners.

The striker was sold to Turkish club Gotezpe in the summer of 2018 as Frank Lampard took charge of Derby, and while he may have had late success, he proved an expensive mistake, with each of his regular season goals costing £300,000.