Derby County nearly struck record £13m transfer - they will regret that it never happened | OneFootball

Phillip Cocu tried to lure future Brighton star Ferdi Kadioglu to Pride Park back in 2020

Derby County will forever regret that their bid to sign Ferdi Kadioglu from Fenerbahçe in 2020 never happened.

In what would have been a club-record transfer, ex-Rams boss Phillip Cocu was hoping to reunite with the rising Turkish star he had previously signed during his time as the Süper Lig outfit's head coach.

However, the then 20-year-old Kadioglu proved unmoved by the Rams' advances, reportedly telling close friends he had no interest in leaving Turkey.

Seeing as though Brighton paid around £25m for the full-back/winger four years later, it was a decision that proved far more significant than anyone could have anticipated at the time - especially since the luck the Rams received from the wingers they ended up signing instead wasn't great.

Derby County's failed attempt at signing Ferdi Kadioglu for £13m

According to Turkish media at the time, Derby were prepared to make a club-record offer of £13m to bring Kadioglu to Pride Park before the start of the 20/21 season - but the versatile young star made it clear that he was going nowhere.

Despite the massive sum being dangled before him, Kadioglu apparently rebuffed the approach as mentioned earlier and was fully focused on playing for Fenerbahçe.

The transfer interest came as no surprise given Cocu's history with the player. When the Dutchman took over at Fenerbahçe in 2018, one of his first moves in the transfer market was to bring in Kadioglu from NEC Nijmegen for a reported sum of €1.4m.

Cocu believed he could recreate that partnership in the East Midlands and even admitted he wanted to sign the Turk the previous January, saying that, "Buying him [Kadioglu] is very difficult, but a loan is a better option. Both sides might be happier with a loan deal."​

The rejection of Kadioglu's offer forced Derby to look elsewhere in the summer transfer window, and their alternatives proved catastrophically underwhelming.

Bearing in mind that this was still over one year before Derby offcially entered administration, Polish winger Kamil Jóźwiak was signed for a reported £3.5m and Jordon Ibe came back on a free transfer from Bournemouth.

Jóźwiak, despite his potential as a Poland international, never truly settled at Derby and would eventually depart for Patrick Agyemang’s old MLS side Charlotte FC for little more than a nominal fee - having only scored one goal in 66 appearances.

As Rams fans are well aware, Ibe appeared just once in the Championship for Derby during the 20/21 season, a somewhat sad testament to how far his career had fallen from his early loan spell at the club under Steve McClaren.

Ferdi Kadioglu may have been the cost of Phillip Cocu's Derby County downfall

The irony of Derby's recruitment that summer was summed up by the fact that Cocu himself would be sacked in November 2020, just a few months into the new season, with the Rams sitting bottom of the Championship table.

Someone who had so desperately wanted to sign Kadioglu would only last 16 months at Pride Park, departing with just one win from 11 matches. As well as the Turkish youngster, you can make the assumption Cocu was never backed to bring in who he actually wanted sign at Derby.

Another Turkish international, Serdar Dursun, was also reportedly wanted by the Championship club for some time. German outlet Bild spoke to the director of SV Darmstadt - who the striker played for - and revealed that the Rams would only offer £750k. Dursun went on to play with Kadioglu at Fenerbahçe a year later, joining them for nothing.

Going back to wingers, Patrick Roberts was signed on loan in the January after Cocu’s sacking. Yes, he scored on the final day of the season against Sheffield Wednesday to help Derby stay up, but you could imagine that Kadioglu would've had a better impact than all the three mentioned.

Now 26-years-old and a mainstay in Brighton's team, the Seagulls' head coach, Fabian Hürzeler, uses Cocu's wanted man as either a left-winger or right-back.

Given that these positions aren't exactly similar, Hürzeler told The Athletic, "He [Kadioglu] has skill in several positions. He can run a lot. He is a very humble person. He’s a great team player and I think that’s very important for us as a squad."

"It’s not easy for a player to start as a left full-back and then during the game go onto the left wing. And that shows the quality that he can adapt in such a short period of time," the Brighton chief added.

Ultimately, it is fairly difficult to imagine that Kadioglu would have developed into the player he has become today if he somehow moved to England that early on. Everyone's aware of how tough the Championship can be for foreign signings trying to make a name for themselves, but that won't stop Rams fans wondering 'what if'.