£600,000. Derby County’s gamble made them famous, and he would make a significant profit for the Rams.
Although the East Midlands team underwent significant upheaval, many people still consider Derby County’s
Premier League run in the late 1990s and early 2000s to be one of the club’s greatest periods.
When the Rams’ first season back in the top division ended in 1997, they moved from the Baseball Ground to
Pride Park Stadium, but it was a historic year as Jim Smith led his team to a 12th-place Premier League finish.
They had a busy summer because they had to wait until the second-to-last game of the 1995–96 season to
earn promotion out of Division One, making it impossible to surpass the highs of the previous year.
At Derby County, Paulo Wanchope immediately made an impression.
Paulo Wanchope was a Costa Rican forward who came to England for barely £600k from his home team,
Herediano. Before the Rams were able to sign him, he had recently been turned down by a team lower in the leagues.
The fact that he was only 20 years old and that it was a risky deal meant that he was under
tremendous pressure to contribute right away at the Baseball Ground.
After signing his contract, Wanchope made his Derby debut a few weeks later,
facing Sir Alex Ferguson’s Manchester United club at Old Trafford.
Leave a Reply