Derby County lived to regret trying to cut their losses with Nottingham Forest deal: View | OneFootball

Derby County sold record signing Robert Earnshaw to Nottingham Forest and lived to regret it

Highlights

There's no denying that the rivalry between Nottingham Forest and Derby County is a fierce one, so it's fair to say that moving between the teams is controversial, and often frowned upon.

However, it does happen, and former Wales international Robert Earnshaw did so in 2008, joining the Reds after just one season at Pride Park.

It's fair to say that Forest saw the better of Earnshaw, and the Rams' decision to sell him after just one year, particularly to their biggest rivals, was a poor one.

13 years on from him departing the East Midlands, the Welshman is fondly remembered in Nottingham, while in Derby he's associated with the worst season in the club's history.

Robert Earnshaw's time at Derby County didn't live up to expectations

After spending a season at Carrow Road with Norwich City, Earnshaw signed a deal to join newly-promoted Premier League side Derby County in the summer of 2007, with the transfer fee of £3.5million making the Welshman the club's record signing.

However, as we all now know, Derby County would break some unwanted records during the 2007/08 season, and became the worst Premier League side in history, winning just one game, and finishing on 11 points.

Clearly, Earnshaw wasn't solely to blame for that, but as the club's record signing, fans would have expected better from him, and his time with the Rams was a failure.

In total, the Welshman played 25 games for Derby, scoring just twice, with only one of them being scored in the Premier League, and he started just seven league games, not what you'd expect from the club's record signing.

He was left out of the club's final game of the season against Reading when manager Paul Jewell revealed they had accepted a bid for him to leave that summer, but it left a sour taste when it became clear he'd join rivals Nottingham Forest.

Following their relegation, Derby looked to cut their losses, and received a fee of £2.65million for the Welshman, a decent return given how he'd performed, but it was a decision they'd come to regret in the years to come.

Robert Earnshaw was excellent for Nottingham Forest

After returning to the Championship with Forest, Earnshaw showed his class and, despite playing for a side that finished 19th, he scored 17 goals in 36 appearances, and Derby's decision to sell him looked a poor one.

The striker reinforced this point in a clash between the two sides in February 2009, as he found the back of the net for Forest against his former side, although he couldn't stop his side falling to a 3-1 defeat.

The Welshman backed up the 17 goals in his first season at the club by scoring another 17 in his second season, and it was becoming apparent that the £2.65 million Forest had paid for him was a bargain.

The 2010/11 season was Earnshaw's final at the City Ground, and it was by far the club's most successful, despite being the striker's worst.

He scored just nine times for the Reds, although there were two memorable goals at least. Earnshaw scored the winner for Forest away to Derby in the East Midlands Derby in what was no doubt a sweet moment, and he also scored against Swansea City in the play-off semi-final, the bitter rivals of his boyhood club Cardiff City.

However, it wasn't enough to help Forest from falling to defeat against the Swans, and they missed out on promotion before Earnshaw returned to Cardiff on a free transfer.

It's clear that Nottingham Forest got the better out of Derby's record signing, and no doubt there was plenty of regret at Pride Park that they'd been so keen to cut their losses on the striker, missing out on his goalscoring ability in the Championship.