Derby County will be hoping to make it four Championship wins from four on their own patch this season when Norwich City travel to Pride Park this Saturday lunchtime.
The Rams have lost all of their away games in the league worryingly, but it’s their form in Derbyshire that has caught the eye, with impressive wins over Middlesbrough and Bristol City sticking out.
It does feel unlikely that Paul Warne’s men will be eyeing up another go at promotion anytime soon, despite their early fantastic form at Pride Park, with this former midfielder once a part of a Rams side that knocked on the door of the Premier League numerous times.
Jeff Hendrick's time at Derby
Jeff Hendrick, who is now more well known for his recurring injury issues, was once a constant bright spark for Derby, with the 32-year-old a loyal servant to the Rams over many seasons.
The 79-time Republic of Ireland international would go on to amass 214 appearances in total for Derby during his celebrated time with the club, which saw two promotion near-misses happen in the play-offs, as Hendrick also notched up 26 goals and 19 assists.
Derby didn’t even have to fork out a penny to land Hendrick either, with the Irishman coming through the youth ranks at Pride Park, to then become a key first-teamer over many memorable years.
Hendrick would, however, walk away from his boyhood employers in 2016 when newly promoted Burnley came calling, as the Dublin-born midfielder finally got to live out his Premier League dream.
Derby wouldn’t wallow in the misery of their former star leaving for too long, however, with the Rams pocketing a healthy £10.5m, which was a then club record fee for the Clarets to pay up.
Unfortunately, after settling in well to top-flight life with Burnley initially, the ex-Derby “demon” – as he was once labelled by former manager Paul Ince for his hard-working ethic – has now seen his later career peter out…
Hendrick's value in 2024
Hendrick actually now finds himself unemployed after finally waving goodbye to Newcastle United this summer, after a torrid end to his time at St James’ Park.
Away from his occasional heroics at Turf Moor, which saw Hendrick live up to his price tag well in spells with ten goals and seven assists tallied up from 139 games in Lancashire, his late playing days have seen him very much lose his way.
Club played for
Games played
Goals scored
Assists
Burnley
139
10
7
Newcastle United
27
3
1
Reading (loan)
46
4
1
Sheffield Wednesday (loan)
12
1
0
Queens Park Rangers (loan)
11
0
0
The former Derby star would only go on to make 27 appearances for Newcastle across his cursed stay playing on Tyneside, whilst loan spells away from the Magpies were also rather mixed, with Hendrick struggling to ever get going with Sheffield Wednesday last season owing to injury issues and a general lack of form.
This has resulted in Hendrick’s transfer value in 2024 dropping all the way down to a low £250k – as per Football Transfers – as the experienced midfielder now searches for a new club to call home towards the back end of his career.
Derby now look very wise to have cashed in on their ex-number eight when they did, capitalising on Burnley taking a big risk on the Irishman, before his time in football then took a downward spiral.
Whilst Hendrick attempts to find a new club, the Rams will strive to stay put in the Championship past this campaign, with a positive result against Norwich this coming weekend very much helping Warne’s men in the long run to achieve that goal.
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