Gary Rowett says Derby County concluded the activity they wanted to during the transfer window.


Derby added striker Cameron Jerome and attacking midfielder Kasey Palmer to their squad during January.

Jerome joined from Norwich City for an undisclosed fee while Palmer arrived on loan from Chelsea for the remainder of the campaign on deadline day.

The Rams also tied down George Thorne and Scott Carson to new deals during January, following on from Joe Ledley and Craig Forsyth also recently penning fresh terms.

Derby also reduced their squad size during the month, which was something Rowett indicated ahead of the window opening.


Darren Bent, Jason Shackell and Chris Martin departed on loan to play first-team football on a regular basis, after finding opportunities limited this season, while forward Johnny Russell turned down the opportunity to extend his contract in favour of a move to the MLS side Sporting Kansas City.

A number of youngsters, including Mason Bennett and Max Lowe, also moved out on loan to continue their football development in the EFL.

When asked if he got done what he wanted to in the window, Rowett told RamsTV: “Yeah, we did.

“If you look at the window as a whole we re-signed a few of the players (on new contracts) to make sure there was no uncertainty when the window closed and that was important to us.

“We brought another striker in, in Cameron Jerome from Norwich City, which was a priority for us and what we wanted to do.

“We also added that creativity and something a little bit unpredictable in Kasey Palmer. He might be somebody that can turn a tight game into a winning one. He has a very good pedigree, coming from Chelsea, and got promoted with Huddersfield last season.

“We also let some players out who weren’t in our long-term plans so I think it was a good window.”


With Derby’s squad settled for the final 17 games of the campaign, Rowett says he has strong options to choose from right across the squad.

Both of his January additions have promotions on their CV and the 43-year-old says their experience of competing at the top end of the Sky Bet Championship can only be beneficial.

He said: “When you look at our squad we have a healthy number with 22 or so and we have options in all positions, in my opinion.

“We are sat in second place and on a very good run of form, both away from home and overall, and we have strengthened the squad in the way we wanted to.

“We have signed two players with promotion experience.”

Palmer was Derby’s single deadline day addition ahead of the 11pm deadline.

Rowett recently stated that the closing days of the transfer window, upon becoming frantic, are less than enjoyable.


Doing business so close to the deadline wasn’t something he was keen to do, but says it is the nature of how the window unfolds.

He said: “It never ceases to amaze me how frantic deadline day gets but everyone is doing the same thing. I find it strange that it all goes to the wire and I can’t understand why.

“It looks as if everyone is leaving it to the last minute but it’s not the case at all; it’s just how it works and you have to react to things.

“We have been trying to do our business for a month now and the reality is everyone waits and puts things off because they will probably get a much better price on the last day. It’s just the way it is and deadline day has become a showcase day.

“We agreed a couple of deals for some very good players but they fell through as the day went on and I am sure you’ll hear a lot of those stories coming out from deadline day (from other clubs).”