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Lawrence: Town Loan Was Massive Wednesday, 16th Aug 2017 20:54
Former Blues loanee Tom Lawrence, who joined Derby County from Leicester City in a £7 million deal yesterday, says his season at Portman Road was massive for him and that he learned a lot working under Town boss Mick McCarthy.
Lawrence, who scored 11 goals in 34 starts and two sub appearances for the Blues during a season-long loan in 2016/17, previously had spells on loan at Carlisle and Yeovil while a Manchester United player, then spent stints with Rotherham, Blackburn and Cardiff when a Fox prior to joining Town last August.
"When you are young and go out on loan, each loan spell you learn from," the 23-year-old Wales international told the Derby Telegraph.
"I learned a lot at Ipswich under Mick McCarthy and I think it showed in my performances. The loan spell at Ipswich was massive for me.
"There is a good base there, a great set of lads, manager and staff. They are all great. It just felt good.
"Mick McCarthy was a massive help to me. Every loan spell I have learned, but I think last season I learned the most I have in my career to date and I am grateful for that.
"I showed everyone what I can do in this league and hopefully I can carry it on this season at Derby. I can't wait to get started."
Lawrence could make his Rams bow when they visit Bolton Wanderers on Saturday.
Photo: TWTD
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Good luck lad. Hope he shows everyone up there what he can do - apart from the two games against us!! £7M is a steal for him nowadays, considering they sold Tom Ince for £10M...
Was a fans favourite, put bums on seats, knows where the back of the net is, great midfielder. Shame our illustrious owner wouldn't find the £7m to sign him, our loss, Derbys gain :(
Good luck Tom. We both benefited from your time here. Your goals and your contribution to our creative play last season kept us up. Oh yes, and we would love you even more if you took a little bite out of Chris Martin every now and then at training.
Of course we knew there was no way we were going to pay £7m for Lawrence, or indeed any player, but I wonder if it could have made financial sense to do so. Tyrone Mings, a defender with great potential but largely unproven, even at Championship level some would argue, was sold for £8m and that was even before the sheer madness of transfer fees really took hold. Tom Lawrence is absolutely proven as a top Championship player, is a great age, with full international caps, and is that most highly prized of commodities, a goalscorer. In today's market his fee of £7m is an absolute steal. Another decent season, or even half season, from him could/should see his value double. If Rhodes, Assombalonga, Hogan etc. are worth £12m - £15m, he surely can be. A Premiership side fighting against the drop in January would certainly notice him if he was doing what he did last season. I suppose the answer is that it's not about individuals, but the structure & the transfer policy in general. If we were to splash out once for him, it would have an impact on quotes we'd get and deals we could do in the future. Would Rangers sell us Waghorn for £300k if they knew we spent £7m on someone else? If's a crazy market right now & perhaps we are well off out of the big fee transfers which can seriously damage clubs, but I don't think Lawrence will be a waste of a lot of money for Derby & I expect him to move on for a lot more than £7m if they don't get promoted within 2 years.
I'm much happier not to have spent that much on one player and instead paid less than half that and got Waghorn, Garner and Huws. Decent player Lawerence is though.
It is quite often the case that a player says nice things about his previous club;but it isn't a given,as he needn't say anything.
His remarks about our Manager are feather in Micks Yorkshire flat cap,as a player who was coached by him should know more than us who have hardly ever met Mick Mccarthy.
Their has certainly been a change of outlook at Portman Rd,so far this season.Whether this was brought about by the fans,Marcus Evans or the CEO,probably a combination;but I am happy about it as should others.
However there are worrying aspects about the defending,which the Manager & Owner are trying to address I believe.Just as MM failed for a long while to replace Murph;so we have missed Christophe and Steven Taylor this season.
Lets hope Mick finds an adequate replacement soon;and the correspondents on here allow each fan to express their views whatever they are without backbiting,which seems to have increased of late.
I actually feel sorry for him and a little bit disappointed that Leicester didn't keep him and play him - I thought his form for us last season showed he was better than some of their options. At the very least, surprised another Prem team - such as any of the promoted teams or in fact anyone in the bottom half (Stoke, Burnley etc) didn't have a look at him. Derby have got a steal and totally agree if he has another season like last then his value will only go up and also agree I wish we'd bought him - £7m spent could either have got us promoted or just been sold on for a profit after a year if the gamble didn't work
I agree. It seems that clubs -ESPECIALLY Premier League Clubs - look at players as cash assets on their balance sheet just as racehorse owners do. So it seems to me that like many young hungry and perfectly able players Tom would always be likely to be replaced by a more expensive player - or more valuable "asset". If we'd bought him for 7 we'd have sold him for 12 in a year's time - if we'd gone up.