Derby County is set to enter the Championship with a well-balanced mix of young talent and seasoned experience, which contributed to Paul Warne’s team being highly competitive and difficult to defeat during the regular season in League One.
In addition to talented players like Eiran Cashin and Louie Sibley, who have emerged from the club’s youth system, Derby also boasts a group of experienced professionals such as Sonny Bradley, James Collins, and Nathaniel Mendez-Laing. These seasoned players have previously excelled in higher leagues, with Sonny Bradley notably achieving promotion to the Premier League while playing for Luton Town.
Warne will hope none of the young stars at his disposal will move on in the summer to disrupt this harmony though, having been stung in the transfer market previously when selling on this former Academy star in 2005.
Tom Huddlestone’s first spell at Derby
Having started his career at Derby’s arch-rivals Nottingham Forest during his youth, it was with Derby County that Huddlestone began to establish himself and lay the groundwork for a successful career in the top flight.
During his time in Derbyshire, before his notable move to Tottenham Hotspur, Huddlestone showcased his skills in the Championship, tallying three assists in 93 games after joining as a teenager.
These impressive performances at Derby likely caught the attention of Spurs, who subsequently signed the now 37-year-old midfielder for a reported fee of around £2.5 million.
Derby County might look back with a tinge of regret at letting go of Tom Huddlestone, considering how successful he became in meeting the demands of the Premier League. He evolved into a crucial player for many Tottenham Hotspur teams, contributing 16 goals and 31 assists in 209 appearances.
Reviewing TotallyMoney’s Transfer Index, it’s evident that Derby could have earned a significantly higher amount for their young talent if the transfer had taken place in today’s inflated market. This raises the question of whether their decision to sell Huddlestone was as disadvantageous financially as it may have seemed at the time.
TotallyMoney’s Transfer Index analyzes the 100 most expensive transfers across Europe’s top five leagues since 1992, factoring in historical financial data and inflation rates to determine the hypothetical value of players from the past in today’s market.
Tom Huddlestone’s transfer value in 2024
According to the Transfer Index, Derby would be quite pleased with their earnings of £16.4m, making Huddlestone their most expensive sale ever. If Warne and his team have to let go of players like Cashin this summer, who’s attracted interest from Premier League teams before, they’ll aim for a substantial fee like the £16.4m mentioned alongside Huddlestone’s transfer.
| Derby’s top five most expensive departures | |
|---|---|
| 1. Matej Vydra | £10.5m |
| 2. Jeff Hendrick | £10.1m |
| 3. Seth Johnson | £9.9m |
| 4. Will Hughes | £7.8m |
| 5. Tom Ince | £7.8m |
| Sourced by Transfermarkt | |
Derby will just be glad that they managed to persuade Huddlestone to return to Pride Park during the latter years of his extensive career, finally managing to break his Rams goalscoring duck in the process as well against Brentford after 125 games tallied up in a Derby shirt.
The likes of Max Bird, who has starred in the centre of the park after making the grade stepping up from youth football, could do far worse than to model their game on Huddlestone’s who never ended up looking back when first exiting Pride Park in the mid-noughties.
Derby won’t be consumed with dread about losing more of their homegrown gems just yet, however, still savouring the feeling of promotion whilst they can before the nitty and gritty of next campaign becomes more real.
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