The money floating around the Premier League has had a trickle-down effect, giving Championship teams a huge amount of spending power.
Dwight Gayle and Ross McCormack have commanded eight-figure fees when moving to Newcastle United and Aston Villa respectively, but Derby County are the club who have become best-known for their spending power outside the top-flight.
Last year the Rams spend more than £20m on a host of new players, with the likes of Tom Ince, Andi Weimann, Bradley Johnson, Nick Blackman and Jacob Butterfield heading to the East Midlands.
Their one addition so far this summer has been James Wilson, brought in on loan from Manchester United, but local reports suggest they could be poised to head right towards the top of the transfer spend counts.
The Bristol Post claim Bristol City striker Jonathan Kodjia will move to the iPro Stadium for a fee that could rise to £14m. Fourteen million pounds. For a player with a grand total of zero top-flight appearances to his name.
This falls under the ‘we’ll believe it when he’s holding up the shirt’ banner, but fans of other Championship clubs have reacted to the reports in a way that you might well expect.
https://twitter.com/MonNightDawes/status/769519376026533890
Derby are apparently paying £14m for Jonathan Kodjia.
— Nick Miller (@NickMiller79) August 27, 2016
How do Derby afford all these big signings without breaking the rules?
— Adam Brandon (@AdamBrandon84) August 27, 2016
Derby have also been linked with Watford striker Matej Vydra, but hey, they don’t have too many attacking options.
There’s just Johnny Russell, Chris Martin, Darren Bent, Abdoul Camara, Blackman, Weimann and Wilson. Oh, and Ince can play off the frontman too.
I see Derby have pushed the panic button. 14m for Kodjia and 8 for Vydra. 🤔….. Although after last nights shambles can't blame em #dcfc
— Chris (@chefsmith28) August 27, 2016
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