Rowett Insists Derby Must Go For ‘Right Deals’

Gary Rowett insists Derby County must be patient in their quest to add to their squad – insisting getting the ‘right deals’ is the main priority.

Rowett completed his first signing of the summer on Wednesday morning by snapping up Hull City’s Curtis Davies.

The 32-year-old defender strengthens the defensive options available to Rowett ahead of the 2017/18 season.

The club’s manager, as he has stated on many occasions, believes being patient will benefit Derby in the long run when it comes to bringing in more fresh faces.

What the 43-year-old clearly doesn’t want to do is rush into signing a player which may, further down the line, may look to be a hasty decision.

He told RamsTV: “I sat last week on the phone whilst on holiday, walking around the pool, and wondering to myself why we hadn’t done a deal yet.

“Then I spoke to a few people and they told me that the market is completely dead at the moment.

“Whilst you want to get deals done early they have to be the right deals and I think that in the signing of Curtis Davies, we have got a bit of both.

“The deal is of fantastic value for someone who is still incredibly mobile and athletic, both of which are hallmarks of his game.

“As usual, though, whilst we celebrate one deal, we’ve then got to quickly move onto the next one.

“They say that patience is a virtue and I’m sure that of all the attributes you need as a manager over the summer months, that is probably the biggest and main one.”

He added: “Things don’t happen quickly because players are away on holiday and agents can always use that as a reason why they’re not quite agreeing to a deal just yet.

“It is a really difficult one to get done but it seems to pick up a little bit towards pre-season where one or two players come back and start panicking because they’re perhaps at a club that they don’t want to be at.

“To get the Curtis one done early is fantastic but of course we will need to be patient looking ahead because, ultimately, patience is what gets you the players that you want.”

Rowett accepts knock-backs happen in the transfer market but says moving on to the next target quickly is key.

Sometimes, however, he says other factors dictate the timing of getting deals over the line – such as player departures.

He said: “You have to move on very quickly in football.

“If you start with five targets at the beginning of the window in each area then often you can lose two or three of them for various reasons.

“For example, we might have been interested in a player who were in the play-offs and if one of them teams get promoted then suddenly those targets become not available any more.

“I think the beauty of it is that you have to bounce from one to another and keep going to get deals done.

“That is sometimes dictated to by your own players going out as well and of course you can’t control the timing of those things.”

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