Derby County may have to take £8m+ loss on Anya and Butterfield this summer

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Derby County’s Jacob Butterfield and Ikechi Anya have failed to perform at Pride Park.

Derby County may have to take a loss £8 million or more this summer should they opt to move on Jacob Butterfield and Ikechi Anya to make room for new recruits.

The Rams are currently in the midst of a promotion challenging campaign, yet regardless of what division they play in next season, changes to the playing squad will no doubt be made this summer.

Boss Gary Rowett inherited a mis-match of a squad upon his appointment last year – some players such as Chris Martin and Will Hughes were ideal for a possession-based game, while others such as Andreas Weimann and top scorer Matej Vydra were more suited to a side looking to strike on the counter-attack.

It’s great credit to the former Birmingham City manager at how well Derby have done this season in terms of results considering the squad imbalance, and without doubt the squad could be improved.

But in order to do so, there must be some departures and for two players in particular – Butterfield and Anya – it seems the club must take a big loss following their unimpressive stint at Pride Park thus far.

Butterfield joined for around £4.5 million on a four-year deal in the summer of 2015, but despite a decent debut campaign, his stock has fallen, and he currently finds himself out of favour on loan at Sheffield Wednesday.

With just one year left on his contract and a lack of Championship appearances this term, Derby will struggle to get any sort of decent fee for him this summer if they manage to sell him at all.

Anya, in contrast, will have two years left on his deal, but the 30-year-old has barely featured this term and considering his age and evident decline, there is no way somebody would pay anywhere near the £4 million the Rams parted with to bring him in from Watford.

Moving players on who have underperformed is one obstacle, but players such as Butterfield and Anya arrived almost out of desperation (both were near deadline day deals) and no doubt command a decent wage package.

The duo resembles somewhat the mismanagement from boardroom level following Mel Morris’ arrival as chairman back in 2015, where north of £40 million has since been spent on top of a squad who finished 3rd in the Championship in the 2013/14 season without success.