Derby County must have one regret over £6m Norwich City deal | OneFootball

Bradley Johnson signed for the Rams in 2015, however he never truly found consistency in black-and-white.

After the heartbreak of the 2014/15 season, Derby County set about quickly that summer to make the changes needed to return to the top six of the Championship and finally win promotion back to the Premier League.

The Rams were beaten 3-0 by Reading on the final day of the previous campaign, dropping out of the play-off places before Steve McClaren was sacked by Mel Morris.

It was an incredibly disappointing end to a year that should have culminated in the East Midlands outfit finishing in the top two of the division at the very least, and their former owner quickly wanted to turn a new page and spend heavily on building a team capable of winning the second tier.

The likes of Andreas Weimann, Jacob Butterfield and Tom Ince were brought in for multi-million-pound fees to help the club take that next step, but it was the addition of Bradley Johnson for £6m that surprised many, as he left Norwich City for Derby.

Johnson made a good start to life with the Rams, but he struggled for consistency

The midfielder arrived at Pride Park with Paul Clement looking for a general in the heart of his team following John Eustace's retirement earlier that year.

He made a bright start, scoring two goals and picking up an assist in his first six league matches, but this consistency in the final third never followed him throughout the rest of his career in the East Midlands.

He scored 15 goals in his last season in the Championship, but he was never that same threat once he left the Canaries and he played in a deeper role that never truly let him show off his attacking talent.

Nevertheless, he was a monster at times in the middle of the park and his physicality helped Derby to the top of the table by December 2015, but the club's situation would soon change as Clement was sacked and Darren Wassall made the step-up from the academy to see the season out.

Johnson ended his first year with just five goals and two assists in 31 games as the Rams were beaten by Hull City in the play-off semi-finals, in what proved to be the now-retired footballer's best goalscoring season at Pride Park.

Derby never recovered the fee for Johnson although he did show flickers of brilliance at times

Bringing strength to the midfield was perhaps the London-born ace's greatest asset and he was able to do this in every iteration of Derby's team over the course of his four-year stay.

However, there was always something lacking, and he was not always able to show the best version of himself on the pitch, leaving supporters wanting more at times.

His best football after his first season came in his very last with the Rams, as Frank Lampard allowed him more attacking freedom. While he never racked up the numbers that he did in 2014/15 with Norwich, he was influential at times as Derby finished in the play-offs once again.

He ended the season playing week-in-week-out just behind the talented Mason Mount, and this gave him more freedom, while he was still trusted to be that defensive warrior.

Yet, he was never able to achieve what he did with the Canaries, and he left the Rams at the end of 2018/19 as a free agent as Derby never recovered the £6m fee that they paid out for the former Premier League player.