Derby County head coach Gary Rowett has revealed to the Derby Telegraph that they will make another attempt to sign Birmingham City’s Maikel Kieftenbeld in the January transfer window.
As usual, transfer deadline day was a hectic day for deals and the Rams were looking to complete one at the last minute by trying to sign Kieftenbeld from Birmingham. They were looking to sign another midfielder after Jacob Butterfield left the club on loan to Sheffield Wednesday in a swap deal which saw Sam Winnall come to the iPro Stadium on a similar deal. Craig Bryson also left the club as he moved on loan to Cardiff City.
But Derby weren’t able to finish off the deal to sign Kieftenbeld in time. While the club thought it had been done, the EFL did not ratify the deal as the paperwork hadn’t been completed in time and even though the East Midlands club appealed this, the move was still not allowed to go ahead.
But even after that setback, Rowett still wants to bring a player he managed when he was at Birmingham to Derby. He said: “I think we will have to revisit the deal from a moral perspective and also from a perspective that the player would have given us something different.”
“It is a difficult one for him (Kieftenbeld) to have to go back.”
“I thought Birmingham handled it really well because it must be difficult for them as well. They have not done an awful lot wrong.”
“We will look at that again although he could get back in Birmingham’s team and do fantastic for them.”
