Derby County were bled dry by this dud when he was at the club.
Derby County knows that a point against Carlisle United, who are currently at the bottom of the league, will be sufficient to secure promotion back up to the Championship at Pride Park, so they can already taste the final-day champagne.
Nathaniel Mendez-Laing’s 1-0 victory over Cambridge United may have been the game-winning goal that separates Bolton Wanderers and Peterborough United from automatic promotion. The seasoned attacker wrapped around the unlucky opposition goalkeeper to score a vital goal.
If the Rams do make it back to the second division from League One, they will realise they cannot afford to spend excessively as they have in the past because of this noteworthy failure, which is burning a hole in Derby’s wallet at a difficult time in the team’s recent past.
Derby days spent by Ikechi Anya
It’s safe to say Derby weren’t known for being a frugal side when it came to transfer activity through the door under former chairman Mel Morris.
The Rams heavily invested in the summer transfer window prior to the start of the 2016–17 campaign, paying an outrageous £8 million to acquire Matej Vydra and an additional £4 million for his former Watford teammate Ikechi Anya.
Anya, who signed with the Hornets and finished as a versatile player with eight goals and 24 assists, must have thrilled Derby supporters to see him wear a Derby uniform.
The now-retired former Scotland international made just 38 appearances for the Rams over the course of four seasons before ending his playing career in 2020, so the move ultimately proved to be a huge failure.
When you consider that his outrageous salary at the time was 3.5 times greater than what homegrown Rams product Louie Sibley is currently making under Paul Warne, Derby was bleedin’ even more by their 5′ 6″ dud.
The pay of Ikechi Anya at Derby
According to Capology, Anya would wind up costing his team an astounding £5.8 million in salary costs overall. That’s a lot of money wasted on a player who would only score one touchdown for the Rams in his career.
Anya was the club’s third-highest earner in the 2019–20 season, only surpassed by an ageing Darren Bent and the aforementioned Vydra. The Scotsman earned £28k per week during his debut season in Derbyshire, which would be his wage throughout his miserable Rams spell minus a slight pay increase during the 2019–20 season.
| Derby top earners – 2016/17 Season | |
|---|---|
| 1. Darren Bent | £30k per week |
| 2. Matej Vydra | £30k per week |
| 3. Ikechi Anya | £28k per week |
| 4. David Nugent | £25k per week |
| 5. Alex Pearce | £25k per week |
| Sourced by Capology | |
The difference between the highest earners currently in Warne’s camp is astounding, with Conor Hourihane at the top with £12k per week—a sum that wouldn’t even scratch the top five.
Sibley earns a meagre £8k-per-week in contrast to Anya’s pay packet currently, despite being the driving force for Mendez-Laing’s breakaway strike versus Cambridge going in by bursting forward unchallenged to then play the ex-Cardiff City man into space.
Sibley, who has seven goals and five assists across all competitions this season, will be begging for a rise if Derby plays in the Championship the following year.
Warne’s team intends to gradually advance up the step-up after almost failing to make it to the second tier the last time around, so there won’t be any irrational increases for the sake of it.
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