Gary Rowett was left satisfied with the business that Derby County were able to conclude on transfer deadline day.
Rowett added two late signings to his squad with the arrivals of forward Sam Winnall from Sheffield Wednesday on a season-long loan deal and midfielder Maikel Kieftenbeld from Birmingham City for an undisclosed fee.
The duo were signings five and six of the summer window as Rowett sought to provide a fresher look and feel to his squad.
The final day of the transfer window also saw some outgoings with midfield pair Jacob Butterfield and Craig Bryson moving out on loan for the season.
Butterfield linked up with Sheffield Wednesday as part of the deal which saw Winnall head to Pride Park Stadium, while Bryson has joined Cardiff City.
Although he wasn’t planning on his work going right up to the final minutes of the window, Rowett was happy with the additions he was able to make.
He told RamsTV: “It’s incredible you go all this time trying to do business and it goes until the very end.
“I came in at 7am and wasn’t anticipating doing so much (business) but we have been working incredibly hard.
“It has been frustrating to say the least but we’re really pleased with the business we’ve done.
“We’ve had to do some deals out to get some others in, particularly in the Sam Winnall case with Jacob Butterfield going the other way.”
Rowett worked with Winnall earlier in his career while he was assistant to Paul Peschisolido at Burton Albion.
Winnall, then a teenager and Wolverhampton Wanderers, scored seven times in 12 starts as he impressed at the Pirelli Stadium.
He has maintained an impressive goalscoring record throughout his career so far and Rowett feels he adds to the Rams’ attacking qualities.
He said: “I worked with him at Burton and he scored quite a few goals.
“You could see straight away the hunger he had to score goals and we felt it was important to add that goal threat to what we’ve got.
“Age wise, we felt it was a great piece of business. We have a lot of midfielders in the building so we felt we were able to do some work there – with Jacob Butterfield going to Hillsborough - to generate something else the other way.
“He has a real desire to score in training and games. He is a one in two man throughout his career.”
On the arrival of Kieftenbeld, Rowett feels the midfielder has a number of excellent attributes.
He originally brought the Dutchman to England from Groningen in 2015 and feels he has the qualities to make an impact in the Derby midfield.
He said: “He was captain at Groningen, played in the Europa League and in the Dutch top flight. We got him on a really good deal originally to Birmingham.
“He was incredible for us really and in terms of tackles, interceptions, desire, hunger and drive – he is the best player I have ever worked with in that sense.
“He has lots of other attributes but they are his best and something I felt was missing from the team at times.
“I felt it was a piece we needed to get and he will be desperate to drive us forwards. I am really excited to see if he can have the same impact here.”
Rowett also admitted that allowing Bryson to leave for the campaign was a difficult decision.
The popular 30-year-old is Derby’s longest serving player after arriving from Kilmarnock in 2011.
Given his history with the club, Rowett accepts it wasn’t an easy choice.
He said: “It was a really difficult decision with Craig.
“We didn’t have the offers that we felt we would have with other players. At that point we needed to generate something. He hasn’t been playing but reluctantly we have done that deal.
“We can’t have 28-29 players here and he wants to play; it wasn’t easy given his history at the club.”
