There was a lot of outcry from some section of Derby County fans when they decided to sell Matej Vydra in the summer after he was the top scorer in the Championship last season. Reportedly it was because the owner wanted to drastically reduce the wage bill of the club as it had gone way overboard and to cover those finances, they decided to sell their most profitable asset, i.e. Vydra. The Czech Republic striker had joined Pride Park in 2016 for a club record fee of £8m, and one could say that he justified Derby’s paying such an amount after the performance he gave at the club where he scored 27 times in 80 appearances.
Vydra joined Burnley for an undisclosed fee, but it is believed to be reportedly around £11m mark so even after two seasons, The Rams managed to sell their biggest signing of all time on a profit. There were interviews from Lampard which suggested that he was going to keep hold of him but once a Premier League club approached him, it was always going to be tough to retain him. As replacements, they already had the experienced David Nugent who was bought in the January transfer window in 2017 and in the summer, Lampard got in the likes of Martyn Waghorn and Jack Marriott.
Marriott took League One by storm last campaign as he finished as the top scorer by scoring 33 goals. Now people would be sceptical whether you can replace a Championship top scorer with a League One top scorer given the gulf in quality of the league. But we believe Marriott who is just 23 has all the facets to his game to be successful. He is slowly being integrated into the first team as Lampard has so far preferred the experience of David Nugent up front. Given the options they have currently, one can say that the Rams are well covered while going forward.
Vydra might have done well as a striker but he is naturally more of a secondary striker, and he often preferred playing in the no.10 role as well. The striker was not even regular under Gary Rowett when he started using the 3-4-3 system where the team looked much better overall. His success came about when he was used as the man up front in a 4-2-3-1 system, and we have seen Lampard use 4-3-3 so far predominantly.
Vydra was not at home playing out from wide regions and was usually found wanting when he started in those positions. The new signing Marty Waghorn is much more adept at doing that and his goal and assists tally last season for Ipswich Town last season wasn’t too bad either as he scored 16 goals and assisted 13 times.
Given the financial constraints the club had as the owner suggested, it made sense to sell their striker now that they have more than decent enough replacements. However, only time would tell whether these players would be able to provide the 21 goals which the Czech striker scored. As of now, there is not much to complain as the Rams have won 4 of their opening six games.
