"Eyebrows were raised" - Derby County, Matej Vydra claim made after record deal | OneFootball

Matej Vydra's move to the Rams in 2016 was a surprising one, but his final year at the club was phenomenal.

This article is part of Football League World's 'Terrace Talk' series, which provides personal opinions from our FLW Fan Pundits regarding the latest breaking news, teams, players, managers, potential signings and more...

Derby County were big spenders in the late 2010s, and despite multi-million pound signings throughout the decade, they failed to win promotion to the Premier League.

The Rams' former financial strength eventually caught up with them, and after a season of struggle in 2020/21, the club were put into administration by ex-owner Mel Morris in September 2021.

Nevertheless, the calibre of the players that were brought to Pride Park from 2014-2019 was incredibly high, and led to multiple play-off campaigns, in which Derby reached the final twice (2014 & 2019).

One of those to come close to bringing the Premier League back to DE24 was Matej Vydra, whose goals in the 2017/18 campaign fired Gary Rowett's team into the top six.

The signing of Vydra was surprising but worked out eventually

After failing in the play-offs for the second time in three seasons in May 2016, Derby were looking for a reaction.

They signed Vydra from Watford for a disputed fee of £8-£10 million on deadline day in the summer window of 2016/17 by new manager Nigel Pearson.

However, the Rams failed to start the season well, winning just once in their first nine games. Their new forward scored twice in six matches himself, but went on a five-month drought without finding the back of the net, eventually finishing the campaign with just five goals.

His second year at the club was excellent, and he quickly made up for his dry-spell in the previous season, scoring in his first start.

His most notable goal came against bitter rivals Nottingham Forest, with Vydra receiving the ball from Joe Ledley 25 yards from goal before turning and smashing it past Jordan Smith after just 24 seconds.

The Czech international scored 21 goals in the league in 2017/18, finishing as the division's top scorer.

Shaun Woodward, FLW's Derby Fan Pundit, believes that Vydra was worth the money following his goal-crazy second season.

"I think when he first signed for us, eyebrows were raised. I think it was near £10 million that we paid for him and his first season at Derby was very, very underwhelming to say the least.

"He didn’t look like he suited the system we played and the management we had just this didn't work for him. But in his second season at Derby he scored over 20 goals and won the Championship Golden Boot. He looked an absolutely different player," he started.

"He started to look like the player that we thought we were buying and then he left sadly. But he was unbelievable in that second season and showed why we paid that money for him.

"So, in a way, he was worth the money. It's just a shame we didn't see more of him because he was only with us for those two seasons. But if you forget the first season, I think it was definitely value for money. It's just a shame we didn't get to see more of him," Shaun concluded.

Derby could not keep hold of Vydra

After such a successful season, it did not come as a surprise to anybody when clubs started to circle Derby, looking to recruit the forward.

The then 26-year-old came very close to a move to Leeds United for £11 million in the summer of 2018, but the move collapsed after the Whites and Vydra failed to agree on personal terms.

This was bad news for the Rams, whose own move for Martyn Waghorn looked to be in disarray if their top goalscorer from the previous year did not leave.

Yet, just a week later, Premier League club Burnley signed Vydra for the same fee of £11 million, and despite scoring in just his third game, he never lived up to expectations after his phenomenal 2017/18 performance.