Derby County pulled off a coup when they signed this enigmatic star.
Derby County will be hoping that by returning to the Championship, Pride Park will become an even more appealing venue to attract new players.
Paul Warne’s Rams have wasted no time in going after a number of targets, with links to the likes of Barnsley midfielder Herbie Kane heating up, as the newly promoted side aim to head into the second tier unfazed by the step-up in quality after taking time out in the League One wilderness.
The Rams are unlikely to pull off a coup in this transfer market similar to the one they secured back in 2000, however, when they managed to sign one maverick who was once on the radar at Barcelona before ending up in Derbyshire.
Georgi Kinkladze is better known to English football fans for his time at Manchester City, where he scored 21 goals and assisted five times in 115 appearances. However, his time at Derby after leaving City may be overlooked.
Kinkladze joined the Rams for £3 million in 2000, after first arriving on loan from Dutch giants Ajax. He would go down as an enigmatic character sporting Derby white, with numerous clever and tricky displays up his sleeve.
The exciting 5 foot 8 attacker would score seven goals and assist nine times for Derby over four seasons, leaving ex-Rams teammate Danny Higginbotham “speechless” with his ball abilities.
The former Manchester City great would even play for Derby in the division below the top-flight for a brief period, despite many of his former teammates waxing lyrical about his immense ability, with former Rams defender Wayne Barton describing Kinkladze as a “wonderful little player” in an interview with DerbyshireLive in 2021, before calling it a day in 2004 to relocate to Cyprus.
The now retired 50-year-old is fondly remembered in Pride Park quarters for his impactful time in Derbyshire, with the £3m forked out to land him looking like a reasonable price to pay to watch such a talent still perform near to his peak before his career fizzled out elsewhere.
Using TotallyMoney’s Transfer Index to look at what the captivating Georgian would cost now, Derby still wouldn’t be ripped off, arguably, even with today’s inflated costs taken into account.
If this similar coup move were to occur in 2024, Kinkladze would only cost the Rams £11.4 million, which does not seem like a high price to pay.
That would make the former Derby midfielder the most expensive signing in Rams history, although not by a by one, as Matej Vydra remains Derby’s record purchase at £8 million.
Vydra only scored 20 more goals than Kinkladze during his stint at the club, but he did so as a striker, making the ex-Man City man’s exorbitant fee partly justifiable.
Remembered as a magician in the Sky Blue half of Manchester and a maverick to Derby fans, Rams supporters in the present will look for interesting encounters in the Championship for their side with new heroes remembered in the process.
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