Like most clubs in the EFL, over the years, Derby County have had some signings that have worked out brilliantly, and others that have worked out less so. 

At most football clubs, for every success story in the transfer market, there is a failure, for every cut-price bargain, an expensive mistake, and the Rams are no exception.

With that being said, here are two players we think have been very underwhelming after signing for Derby County in the last five years.

Cameron Jerome

The first player that came to our minds when thinking of underwhelming Derby County signings in recent years is striker Cameron Jerome.

Jerome joined the Rams in January 2018 with Derby County sitting second in the Sky Bet Championship table.

In his two previous full seasons in the Championship prior to signing for Derby, Jerome had scored 18 and 16 goals respectively for Norwich City and it was hoped that the former Premier League striker could help fire Derby to automatic promotion.

Things didn't quite work out that way, though.

Jerome went on to make 18 league appearances for Derby from January until the end of the season, but, scored just one goal in his first 15 matches for the Rams.

He did endure a very hot run of form with eight games of the season to go, scoring 4 goals and getting 1 assist in three matches against Cardiff, Aston Villa and Barnsley, but then Jerome picked up an injury that would see him miss the remainder of the regular season campaign.

Jerome returned for the play-offs, but failed to help Derby overcome Fulham in the semi-finals, where the Rams were knocked out.

Ultimately, Jerome failed to make a positive impact on Derby County's promotion campaign scoring such few goals in his first 15 outings for the club and then being unable to contribute at the business end of the season.

Given that he left the club that summer, just eight months after joining, he has to go down as an incredibly underwhelming signing for Derby County.

 

 

Kamil Jozwiak

Kamil Jozwiak is another signing that we think underwhelmed at Pride Park after making the move there in the last five years.

Jozwiak joined the Rams from Lech Poznan in August 2020 and although the expectations were very different compared to when Jerome joined the club, Jozwiak still failed to make a significant impression.

Given that he had recently impressed for the Polish national side, and scored 17 goals and registered 17 assists for Lech Poznan in his homeland, there was hope that Jozwiak could come to Derby and do something similar under Phillip Cocu.

This wasn't to be the case though, with Jozwiak making 41 appearances for Derby in his first season at the club, but only scoring one goal and getting three assists.

This season, with the player seemingly out of favour under boss Wayne Rooney, things got even less impressive, with Jozwiak scoring zero goals and registering one assist in just 17 Championship appearances this campaign.

That was before he left Derby County earlier this month to join MLS side Charlotte FC, a move the Rams were forced to accept due to their current administration status.

All in all, although it is harder for an attacking player to impress in a poor side, what looked a promising signing in Jozwiak never turned out to be so in terms of his numbers in front of goal, with the Polish international never really able to replicate the form and promise he had shown in his homeland with Lech Poznan.