Burnley's £11m Derby County investment did not deliver what was expected: View | OneFootball

The 2010s was a turbulent time to be a Rams fan, reaching the Championship play-off final on two occasions in 2014 and 2019, losing both to Queens Park Rangers and Aston Villa respectively.

Under the ownership of Mel Morris, Derby spent a lot of money in a bid to try and return to the Premier League having been relegated in 2008 with a mere 11 points.

The Rams had great players through the decade, with some leaving the club after a very successful spell at Pride Park to go and try and further their careers - but it did not always go down as well as they would have hoped.

A prime example of this is Matej Vydra.

Matej Vydra excelled at Watford and Derby County

Vydra was a striker who was from the Czech Republic and had first moved to England with Watford in 2012, being one of the many players to arrive at Vicarage Road from Udinese.

The then 20-year-old would win the Championship Player of the Year after scoring 22 goals in 44 games, where Watford unfortunately lost in the play-off final to Crystal Palace

Off the back of that season, he made the move to the Premier League to West Bromwich Albion. However, Vydra struggled, scoring just three goals in 23 games, and would return to Watford again on loan.

After scoring 16 goals, Vydra this time fired Watford to promotion to the Premier League but found himself heading back to the Championship almost immediately with Reading, but he was poor, scoring just three league goals.

Despite his poor season with Reading, Derby would spend £8 million to sign Vydra, and what deal that would end up being.

His first season didn't go as well, scoring just five goals, but it was his second season, the 17/18 campaign, that would be his best for Derby.

Scoring 21 goals in 42 games, he would help Derby reach the play-offs, only losing to Fulham in the semi-finals. Arguably his best performance throughout the season was scoring all three goals in a 3-0 win away at Middlesbrough.

Vydra was named in the PFA Championship Team of the Year, and he also won the Golden Boot, too.

Matej Vydra’s big-money move to Burnley did not go as well as anyone would have expected

Vydra’s form in the Championship once again caught the attention of Premier League teams, which led to yet another Premier League move to Burnley in 2018, for a reported fee of £11 million.

But much like his season in the Premier League with West Brom, his four years with the Clarets in the top flight saw him used as more of a backup striker, who did not score many goals.

Across his four seasons with Burnley in the Premier League, Vydra scored eight goals in 72 league games, in what was ultimately a poor spell which culminated in Burnley’s relegation and Vydra’s subsequent release.

Vydra showed that he was consistently a prolific striker at Championship level, but the Premier League always proved to be a level too high for him.