Hull City will reportedly pay £8 million for Liverpool midfielder Kevin Stewart – four times as much as Derby County splashed out on Tom Huddlestone.
Considering that Kevin Stewart played just 18 minutes of Premier League football last season, Liverpool have done remarkably well extracting £8 million out of Hull City for his signature.
Stewart was initially very highly rated by Klopp
Consequently, Stewart will become Hull’s first major, permanent signing of the transfer window. However, although Stewart is a hugely talented player and was lauded frequently by Jurgen Klopp after making his breakthrough in the latter stages of the 2014/15 campaign, his huge price-tag means Derby won’t be enduring too many sleepless nights.
Sky Sports claimed in May that The Rams were one of a number of clubs interested in the tenacious midfielder, who joined Liverpool after being released by Tottenham in 2014.
Derby certainly needed a deep-lying midfield player, with Middlesbrough loanee Julien de Sart immediately falling out of favour when Gary Rowett replaced Steve McClaren in the spring. However, instead of paying big for the Liverpool youngster, the BBC reports that Derby splashed out just £2 million for Tom Huddlestone, who Stewart will ironically replace at the KCom.
Bargain deal
Though Derby are still comfortably within Financial Fair Play guidelines, per the Derby Telegraph, the club posted a loss of around £15 million in April, a worrying report going hand in hand with a series of disappointing, overpriced signings brought to Pride Park in recent years.
However, prioritising a player with Championship experience, and a promotion as recently as 2016, over a big-money, marquee signing suggests they may have learned from their mistakes.
Huddlestone helped Hull win at Wembley in May last year
Stewart is a good player but, at £6 million cheaper, Derby have surely got the better deal with Huddlestone.
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