"Worth £1m" - Bullish Derby County verdict emerges around Ebou Adams, Cardiff City transfer | OneFootball

Derby County have agreed a deal with Cardiff City for Ebou Adams - and it's gone down well with Rams supporters

Highlights

This article is part of Football League World’s 'Terrace Talk' series, which provides personal opinions from our FLW Fan Pundits regarding the latest breaking news, teams, players, managers, potential signings and more…

Ebou Adams is set to return to Derby County ahead of the 2023/24 Championship campaign after the Rams agreed a deal with Cardiff City.

The defensive midfielder moved to Pride Park on loan in the January transfer window and played an instrumental role in Derby's promotion from League One under Paul Warne, emerging as a fan favourite and impressing with his combative and diligent displays in the middle of the park.

Derby have been pursuing a deal ever since for Adams, who has endured a rough time at Cardiff after arriving from Forest Green Rovers on a free transfer by then-manager Steve Morison in the summer of 2022. The Gambian international sustained a freak pectoral injury shortly after signing during the Bluebirds' pre-season and three managers had come and gone by the time he returned to match fitness.

By then, Erol Bulut was and still remains the man at the helm and only elected to start Adams in the Championship on three occasions before sanctioning a switch to Derby following the turn of the year. The Turkish boss admitted that Adams was excluded from contention for Cardiff's opening pre-season fixture against Kidderminster Harriers due to a deal being in the works, and it's now been struck according to Pete O'Rourke, who has claimed that the long-term target will officially be a Derby player in the next 24 hours with a three-year deal set to be signed.

Derby will reportedly shell out just shy of £1m to land their fifth capture of the summer window following the arrivals of Kayden Jackson, Jerry Yates, Ben Osborn and Enzo Goudmijn.

Derby County move for Ebou Adams given green-light

The update has been met with conflicting responses from both sets of supporters; Bluebirds fans are relieved to be getting a peripheral player off the books for a fair and profitable price, while the Pride Park faithful have expressed delight at finally sealing a long-awaited return for Adams.

There's a school of thought among Cardiff supporters that Derby have overpaid for Adams' services - which they're certainly not complaining about - but Football League World's resident Rams fan pundit Shaun Woodward believes that the deal is a "no-brainer" heading into next season.

"In my opinion, Ebou Adams is worth £1m or just under," Shaun told Football League World.

"He was one of the main reasons we got promoted last season, him coming into Derby literally galvanised the whole place.

"He dragged us through games at times, we know what we're getting with him, he's already been at the club, so he's settled. When he comes back through the door it won't be like he's got to start again, he knows everybody. To me, it's a no-brainer and if we've got to pay one million pounds to get him, then so be it.

"I get that he's not going to have a sell-on fee, but we know what we're getting, we could pay half a million for some untried player, but it might not work. So for me, give £1m to Cardiff and get him in the door.

"I think him with Enzo would be a great partnership, and we desperately need an Adams-type player in that midfield, so for me just get him in, £1m is a no-brainer. Especially when you think we've just made money from [Omari] Kellyman and [Liam] Delap, so technically, we're getting him for nothing as that's money we probably didn't think we were going to have so get him in. I don't think we're overpaying in the slightest."

There are no losers from the situation. Cardiff are making full profit on a player who has been out of favour by making just 13 appearances, and Derby are signing someone who was significantly important to their promotion success and will likely be similarly influential next term.

For the player himself, Adams is at an age where he needs to be playing regular football and Derby can most certainly provide that in a division where he'll be keen to truly test himself, having excelled in Leagues One and Two without being handed the fortune and faith to show his worth in the Championship.

£1m may seem steep for Adams, but given how vital he was last campaign, he could just be the difference between survival and relegation, and you can't put a price on that.

Derby also happen to be receiving a cash windfall of sorts after including future clauses in the sales of Kellyman to Aston Villa and Delap to Manchester City when they were both with the academy. With Kellyman now having joined Chelsea and Delap transferring to Ipswich Town, the Rams have been handed a welcome boost that may have funded their Adams deal, which should be a success for all involved.