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Several players from Derby County’s academy are expected to be in or near the first team when they compete in the Championship the following season. The Rams youth system is praised for providing an environment where talented players can flourish before moving up to the senior squad.
The only player who has managed to earn a first-team spot since graduating from the Academy structure is Eiran Cashin, unless he is signed before the opening day. Max Bird and Jason Knight, on the other hand, have made big moves away from Pride Park after beginning their careers in Derbyshire.
Although there are many instances where Derby’s perseverance has paid off with homegrown talent, there are also instances where the Rams have let a gem get away too soon and they have gone on to succeed outside of the Championship club.
In the long run, though, Derby will still prevail since Liam Delap, a former Academy talent, recently completed a big move that might bring Paul Warne and company a sizable sum of money to add to their second-tier transfer fund.
Derby debut for Liam Delap
Derby might receive a hefty financial incentive if Delap moves on to Ipswich; the Championship team strategically included a sell-on option when they let the 21-year-old go in 2019 in case something similar happened later on.
Before joining Manchester City, Delap spent ten years in and around the Rams’ youth system. The wide-eyed sensation gained from his early Pride Park education, which may have helped him refine his vicious goal-scoring abilities that have been observed while playing youth football for City.
The six-foot-1 striker would go on to play just eight games for Derby U18s, scoring one goal in those games, before the defending Premier League winners picked him up.
Regretfully, Warne’s team was never able to see Delap at his most productive. In an ideal world, the highly anticipated new Ipswich acquisition would have made numerous senior appearances at Pride Park rather than leaving his childhood club so early in his career.
Rather, he developed into a renowned, ice-cold finisher of chances while playing for Pep Guardiola’s titans in the Premier League 2 and beyond, which is what motivated him to make such an expensive move to Suffolk.
The worth of Delap in 2024
He has improved his goal-scoring abilities during loan stints in the Championship away from the opulence of the Premier League’s biggest clubs. He scored eight goals for Hull City last season, and Ipswich has now acquired the highly regarded center-forward for a rumoured £20 million.
Derby won’t be mega-rich off the back of this development, but gaining a slim fraction of that £20m will still go a long way you imagine, especially when you consider that amount is more than what the entire Derby squad is currently worth, according to Transfermarkt.
Derby’s entire squad, as per Transfermarkt’s latest valuation, is currently worth around £12.6m, which is some way off Delap.
Ipswich will hope they aren’t paying way over the odds for their new 6 foot 1 star, considering Man City managed to win his services from Derby for just £1m back in 2019.
Looking at the above table, Delap’s £20 million price tag would even make him the most expensive exit from Derby ever. Warne and company are hoping that some of this money will go towards improving and bolstering their team in preparation for their return to the Championship.
The Championship can be a harsh division, and this fresh financial infusion could help to further strengthen the depth of the team given the changes that have already begun to be made to the building.
Whether Delap succeeds at Ipswich after spending some time being shielded by City’s junior pitches is still to be seen.
However, Derby won’t really be thinking about it because their priority for the upcoming season will be survival at all costs.
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