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Zak Whitbread


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Derby County have signed defender Zak Whitbread on an emergency loan deal from fellow Sky Bet Championship side Leicester City.

 

The 29-year-old centre-back has penned a three-month loan deal and will go straight into the Derby squad for Tuesday’s Championship fixture against Ipswich Town at Pride Park Stadium (7:45pm).

 

He arrived at the Derby County Training Centre in association with the University of Derby earlier today, where he completed the necessary paperwork and took part in the morning's training session ahead of the midweek fixture. 

 

With defender Richard Keogh suspended for the meeting with the Tractor Boys, the Rams have acted quickly to reinforce their backline with the addition of the American-born defender.

 

Whitbread has made four appearances for City this season and his only goal to date for the Foxes came in their 4-1 success over Derby at the King Power Stadium last season.

 

Although born in Texas and capped at Under 20 level by his country, Whitbread came through the ranks at Liverpool and after making seven appearances for the Reds, he moved to Millwall in 2005, initially on loan, before sealing a permanent move to The Den.

 

He was a regular in the Millwall side before joined Norwich City in January 2010 as they were promoted from League 1 and he was key member of the squad as they sealed promotion to the Premier League during the 2010/11 season.

 

He later went on to join Leicester City in the summer of 2012 on a free transfer and was part of their squad that reached the Championship Playoffs.

 

In total, he has made 195 career appearances in English football – scoring six goals.

Read more at http://www.dcfc.co.uk/news/article/derby-set-to-sign-whitbread-1085791.aspx#BoPzpErrbOlmQ2VY.99

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I think he is a good defender though, certainly more capable that Gjokaj!

 

On very good wages though, so I don't know what to think - really don't. 

 

Hi there, I'm a Leicester fan, in peace of course.

 

Just wanted to say I've been impressed with Whitbread so far when he's featured this season, and I think with more game time you'll have a decent player in him.

 

On his wages, he seriously will be on less than the average player in this division. We signed him whilst he was a free agent and Pearson's main objective since re-joining Leicester was to get the wages down for the squad in preparation for the FFP.

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Don't know if this has been mentioned, but apparently Nigel Pearson's press interview for their game tonight he made some cutting comments about the Whitbread/Derby situation.

 

Basically he called out Derby as unprofessional for announcing the deal on Sunday night before it was actually completed/signed & sealed.

 

Then when a journo described Clough as having "fallen on his sword", Pearson was quick to clarify that he was "very definitely pushed, he didn't fall"

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And I'm sure Nigel Pearson has never confirmed interest in a player before signing him.

 

And it's the first time he's EVER made disparaging remarks about another club in general, and Derby in particular.

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If he was so offended by it he should have instructed his board to cancel the transfer, simple.

 

It surely wouldn't be a problem unless of course, shock horror, the deal was actually signed, sealed and couldn't be backed out of by the time we announced it.... perhaps their board is just slow at keeping Pearson informed!

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I think Pearson and Clough have made a decent friendship and they always complimented each other before the game.

 

I think Pearson is angry at the situation, but I don't see a problem with the whitbread thing. Obviously we had agreed a deal, and had him coming to training less than 12 hours than when it was announced.

 

So, okay - he signed it the next day but makes no sense to have a go at the decision for me.

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I think the point I didn't make very well was that Nigel Pearson was having a subtle dig at Rush, over the Nigel sacking (backing up what Ambitious has said about them having respect for each other). Announcing the Whitbread thing on a Sunday evening when Leics were obviously not working was just something else for him to gripe about re: Rush

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  • 2 months later...

When does his loan deal expire?

I bet Pearson didn't envisage us being 2 points behind them in 4th place come December. Surely they won't extend it if we ask them to.

We won't ask to extend it anyway I expect.

Keogh and Bucko have proven they are good enough for a promotion push.

Wisdom can play CB if needed.

Obrien is returning now.

Michael Keane, if he plays more and plays well, we could extend his loan.

He is also a bit injury prone.

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Guarantee that there is a deal in place to sign Whitbread in January.

 

mark my words - would be a good signing too.

Send him back. He is a poor player who spends too much time on his heels. It would be a backward step - we can do much better than Whitbread,

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