Derby County must surely have regrets over £2m Bristol City departure - he went on to be a huge success | OneFootball

The Austrian joined the Rams in 2015, but he never truly got going in black-and-white.

The 2014/15 campaign ended in heartbreak for the second successive season for Derby County, and with Steve McClaren's sacking, Paul Clement was brought in to take the club back to the Premier League.

The Rams had started to show their spending power under Mel Morris in the previous year, but they stepped it up a gear in the summer of 2015, bringing in Bradley Johnson for £6m, Jacob Butterfield for £4m and Tom Ince for £4.75m.

Hopes were high that the East Midlands outfit had a squad more than capable of avoiding the play-offs and returning to the top flight automatically, as Clement adjusted to life as manager.

Derby's heavy spending started early, and the arrival of Andreas Weimann was one that excited supporters, but he never truly lived up to the reported £2.75m fee that was paid to take him out of Aston Villa's clutches.

Weimann never really got going at Derby

The Austrian arrived at Pride Park able to play both out wide and in a more central position if needed, but he struggled for goals and assists from the off, failing to find the back of the net in his first 12 appearances as the Rams started the season strongly, losing just once in 15 Championship matches.

Weimann was finally starting to show promise, scoring three goals in four games as his team started to put pressure on those above them, but those strikes would only be added to one more time over the course of the campaign as his struggles in front of goal continued.

He scored for the fourth and final time in a 1-1 draw against Brighton & Hove Albion in the second to last match of 2015/16 as his side, now under the management of Darren Wassall, ended the year in the play-offs once again after a poor run of form through January and February.

Hull City prevailed over the Rams across two legs, and the reality of Championship football met the club once again in what proved to be a disastrous campaign for Weimann.

The then-25-year-old made just 11 league appearances in the 2016/17 season for Derby before he was sent out on loan to Wolverhampton Wanderers. However, Gary Rowett's arrival saw the ex-Villa youngster used as a core member of the squad in what proved to be his final year at Pride Park.

2017/18 was a good one for the forward as he scored five goals and registered six assists in the league as the Rams returned to the play-offs. But, once again, they were beaten in the semi-finals as Fulham progressed to Wembley, where they ran out as winners against Weimann's former club.

Weimann's £2m departure came at the right time, but he had success elsewhere

The 26-time capped Austria international left Derby in the summer of 2018 for Bristol City, joining the Robins for £2m.

The move worked instantly, as Weimann scored 10 goals and recorded five assists in 44 Championship games as his new side narrowly missed out on a play-off spot.

He had finally found form in the final third, and he backed it up with another impressive year at Ashton Gate in the 2019/20 season as he found the back of the net nine times while picking up seven assists.

While he had shown promise in his first two campaigns with Bristol City, it was in his fourth year with the club when he finally proved his quality. He ended 2021/22 with 22 goals and 10 assists as he returned from an ACL injury.

Derby came out as the losers from the £2m deal, with the Robins securing a goalscoring machine, and there will be some regrets that the Rams did not wait around to see if he could find form under Frank Lampard.