Derby County must rue £3.5m transfer mistake along with these 4 others | OneFootball

Football League World takes a look at five of the Rams' worst ever signings.

Derby County have had two relatively strong transfer windows in the 2024/25 season, and in their first campaign back in the Championship they have made some good signings.

The likes of Jacob Widell Zetterstrom, Lars-Jorgen Salvesen and Sondre Langas have already made names for themselves in England after joining from Scandinavia, while Ebou Adams has brought an incredible energy to the Rams' midfield since joining on a permanent deal from Cardiff City in the summer.

However, the East Midlands outfit have not always had this level of success when purchasing players, and there are a host of players that have come through the doors at Pride Park and departed without making a name for themselves.

Football League World has taken a look at five of the worst signings that Derby have made, with the vast majority coming during the late 2010s.

Nick Blackman

The Rams signed Nick Blackman from Reading in January 2016 for a reported £3m after an excellent start to the campaign for the Royals in which he scored 11 goals, but he had found the back of the net just twice in 13 games before moving to Pride Park.

However, he struggled to make an impact in black-and-white and they overpaid for a player whose deal was due to expire at the Select Car Leasing Stadium just a few months later.

Blackman scored only once in a Derby shirt, with his penalty against Cardiff the one positive memory that supporters will have of him before he was sent out on loan to Maccabi Tel Aviv and Sporting Gijon in the following years, with his contract eventually expiring in 2019.

Raul Albentosa

In January 2015, the Rams were in an excellent position and looked set to win promotion back to the Premier League under Steve McClaren after a seven-year absence.

Spanish defender Raul Albentosa was signed from Eibar for around €600k, but he featured just 10 times during the 2014/15 season after finding the switch from his native country to England a tough one.

It emerged that the centre-back had left his in-soles back at home, but that was no excuse for consistent lacklustre performances on the pitch. He was eventually sold to Deportivo de La Coruna after just a year-and-a-half in the East Midlands.

Efe Ambrose

There can be no denying Efe Ambrose's cult-hero status at Derby, but the decision to sign the former Celtic and Hibernian defender as a free agent in February 2019 is still one that baffles many to this day.

Not much was known about the current Workington AFC man, and not much was learned either, as he failed to make a matchday squad during his few months at the club.

Frank Lampard can be credited with some excellent signings during his time at Pride Park, but Ambrose was a risk that did not need to be taken, despite the financial repercussions being fairly negligible.

Bob Malcolm

Bob Malcolm joined the Rams in 2006 after making 107 appearances for Scottish giants Rangers, but what the Championship side received was a player that was not ready for the challenges of English football.

He found the pace of the game incredibly difficult to adapt to, and Derby's promotion to the Premier League came at the worst possible time for him as he did not have the qualities needed for the level.

He made just one appearance in the top flight before joining QPR on loan, and eventually leaving permanently, ending back up in Scotland with Motherwell.

Robert Earnshaw

Signed from Norwich City for a huge £3.5m fee, hopes were high that Robert Earnshaw was going to be able to score the goals to help Derby stay in the Premier League in the 2007/08 campaign.

However, he found life in England's top division incredibly difficult and he failed to find the back of the net over the course of the opening eight months of the season.

Earnshaw, who earned 59 caps for Wales during his career, scored only once for Derby in the Premier League, with his sole strike coming against Arsenal in the final weeks of the campaign.

He left the Rams for bitter rivals Nottingham Forest in the summer of 2008 for £2.75m, where he found his shooting boots once again.