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Derby County are preparing for their biggest summer transfer window in years as they look to build on their 19th place finish in the Championship last season.
John Eustace left Blackburn Rovers in February to join the Rams, and he helped keep the club in the second tier despite a desperate start to 2025 which saw them go 12 games without a win in all competitions.
However, the 45-year-old now has to find a way to ensure that his team are not involved in a relegation scrap once again, and this summer will be a busy one for the East Midlands outfit.
With survival saving Derby millions, and investment seemingly just around the corner, EFL Analysis have taken a look at the club’s five most expensive signings of all time.
The five most expensive Derby County signings of all time
5. Tom Ince (2015)
After a very successful loan spell in the second half of the 2014/15 season, Tom Ince joined Derby permanently at the end of the campaign from Hull City – who had been relegated back to the Championship.
As per BBC Sport, the Rams broke their transfer record for the winger, spending £4.75m on the son of former Manchester United great Paul Ince, and he was fantastic over the course of the following two years.
He left for Huddersfield Town ahead of the 2017/18 campaign, but he has not hit the heights that he did in the East Midlands ever since he left.
4. Martyn Waghorn (2018)
Martyn Waghorn signed for the Rams in the summer of 2018 while Frank Lampard was the manager of the club, with Sky Sports reporting his fee to be £5m.
He spent the next three seasons at Pride Park, helping them to avoid relegation to League One on the final day of the 2020/21 campaign by scoring the equaliser from the spot against Sheffield Wednesday, sending the Owls down in the process.
He returned to the club in 2023/24 as a free agent, scoring seven times in the third tier before departing once again last summer. He has spent time with Derby County in the last few months, although a third stint as a player was never going to come about following his retirement.
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3. Bradley Johnson (2015)
The 2015/16 season was a big one for the Rams, and they spent plenty in the summer transfer window. After breaking their transfer record early, they went even bigger in the final weeks of the window, as Bradley Johnson joined from Norwich City.
The Daily Mail reported that Derby spent £6m on the midfielder, and he spent four years at Pride Park – helping them to the Championship play-off final in his final year at the club.
He is now involved in the coaching side of the game, and Johnson is back at the East Midlands club as a coach for the U18s side, and success is showing already at Moor Farm – the Rams’ training ground.
2. Matej Vydra (2016)
Nigel Pearson made very few signings during his time as the manager of Derby County, but one that he got right was the addition of Matej Vydra in August 2016, joining the club for £8m, as per BBC Sport.
While he had a tough time in his first year at the club, he won the Championship Golden Boot in 2017/18, firing in 21 goals as the Rams finished sixth under Gary Rowett, while he also scored after just 24 seconds against bitter rivals Nottingham Forest in October 2017.
He left for Burnley that summer, and similar to Ince, he has never truly recaptured the form that he showed at Pride Park for another club.
1. Krystian Bielik (2019)
The most recent signing on this list and the most expensive, Krystian Bielik spent four years on the books at Pride Park, although his time in black-and-white was blighted by injuries before he spent his final season out on loan.
However, he joined the club following their play-off final defeat to Aston Villa in 2019, with Derby spending £10m on the versatile defensive midfielder, as per The Sun.
Complications developed with his deal following administration, and at one point the Rams did owe Arsenal, his former club, a high percentage of the fee before it was eventually settled. But it can be said that the Championship side never truly got the most out of the Poland international.