Derby County: Shock Real Madrid deal still divides opinion - View | OneFootball

Omar Mascarell spent the 2014/15 campaign on loan at the Rams, but struggled for consistency.

Derby County supporters went into the 2014/15 season with a lot of expectation after coming agonisingly close to promotion to the Premier League the year before, losing the play-off final to QPR through 90th minute heartbreak.

The Rams were looking to return to the top flight for the first time since 2008 and they were one of the favourites heading into the new campaign to make that return.

The permanent signing of George Thorne was one that went down extremely well with the Pride Park faithful but an ACL injury in pre-season ended any potential involvement that he was going to have extremely early, as he made just three appearances in the Championship.

Just weeks later, and only five days before the start of the new season, Derby looked to have found their replacement, working with one of the game's biggest superpowers, Real Madrid.

Steve McClaren loaned in defensive midfielder Omar Mascarell from Los Blancos for the campaign and although there was a belief that he could instantly bed in, it proved to be more of a struggle for the now 31-year-old.

Mascarell showed his true potential at times

The Spanish-born player made his debut in Derby's opener, with the Rams leaving it late to defeat Rotherham United, making their way past the Millers thanks to a Jeff Hendrick strike.

Mascarell made a short cameo in the victory but it proved to be a struggle for game time for him in the coming weeks.

Nevertheless, by gameweek 15, the then-21-year-old had found a way into the starting XI and it was a position he was intending to hold on to.

Derby bounced in and around the top six as 2014 came to an end, and Mascarell was slowly starting to fit in. However, there was huge competition for a place in the midfield at that time. Craig Bryson, Jeff Hendrick, John Eustace, and Will Hughes all had the belief that they should have been starting week-in-week-out, and it was pressure that their loanee had to contend with.

Mascarell's best performance came in the Rams' 5-0 triumph over Wolves in November 2015. He proved in that one game why he was brought to England and why he had the backing of those back in Madrid, providing his first assist and impressing many with his skills - including a perfectly executed roulette.

Mascarell's season ended with injury

The Wolves win was as good as it got for the midfielder, whose final game in black-and-white came in a 2-2 draw against Birmingham City at Pride Park.

The hosts had been leading 2-0 heading into the 90th minute, but two late goals from Blues saw the points shared and was possibly the instigator in the Rams' dire run that saw them collapse from the top of the table to eighth.

Mascarell had impressed in phases, but ultimately he struggled with the pace of the Championship, and could never properly fit into the team.

He ruptured a tendon in his foot in training following the draw with Birmingham and never returned to play for Derby again. What had been an extremely promising season for both the club and the player turned into a nightmare as he suffered his first major injury and the Rams dropped out of the play-off places in dramatic fashion on the final day of the campaign.

Mascarell still divides opinion to this day

After signing from a club as prestigious as Real Madrid, there was a lot of expectation surrounding the 21-year-old on his arrival.

Derby's 2013/14 campaign was defined by quick, intricate football that got the crowd on its feet. Even when the Rams were losing, supporters kept behind the team as they knew that they had the ability to get straight back into the game.

Mascarell was not able to fit in with this free-flowing style at times, and often found himself looking sideways or behind him when receiving the ball. He could not integrate into the system that was set up on his arrival.

It was a system that was designed for the anchor of Thorne, who hit the ground running on his arrival on loan from West Bromwich Albion in January 2014.

When the Spaniard eventually did settle in, he was struck by his injury, and his loss coincided with Derby's downfall that season. It is hard to tell exactly where that campaign went wrong, and noise surrounding Steve McClaren and the vacant Newcastle United job certainly did not help.

However, the Rams did seem to miss Mascarell, despite his slow start to life in black-and-white. As he slowly started to grow as a player, he became more of a focal point in that midfield, but it proved to be too little too late, and supporters will still have mixed feelings about him.

Mascarell has had an excellent career since his loan in 2014/15

Nevertheless, since his time at Pride Park, Mascarell has gone on to achieve fantastic things in the game.

Currently at Mallorca, the 31-year-old has also played his football in Germany, appearing for both Eintracht Frankfurt and Schalke 04.

It was with Schalke where he played in the Champions League, featuring just three times in the competition for the German club. However, it is an achievement that perhaps nobody expected after his up-and-down loan at Derby 10 years ago.

Mascarell's career will start to wind down in the next couple of years and despite the issues that he had during his time in England, it was perhaps a move that helped to create the foundations of everything that has come since.