Ramballs

The Rams have today captured their main summer target in Shaun Barker.

Barker joins from Blackpool on a three year deal and he revealed that Nigel Clough was a massive factor when deciding to join the rams over local rivals Nottingham Forest.

The chase for Barker has been going on for a number of weeks with the Rams reportedly having two bids turned down before the tangerines finally accepted the deal. Barker said “I remember coming to Pride Park and their was 30,000 people there and I wished that maybe I could play for a club like that and luckily I am going to be able to this season.

Amazingly, Barker has missed only a handful of games in the past four seasons, a statistic that is quite staggering given how many injuries the Derby fans have been witness to in the past season alone.

While the fee is officially undisclosed, the Derby Evening Telegraph is reporting a figure of around £900,000 has been paid.

If you want to see Barker in action, you can catch him in action against Chesterfield this Saturday.

Check out a profile of the Rams latest signing here.

As reported yesterday, Tito Villa is set to join Cruz Azul of Mexico shortly. The fee is reportedly around £1.7m which I personally think represents good business by Derby County.

Villa, 27, is a hard working striker to can run all day however his end product did not always match his effort. Over his 18 months with the rams, tito gained a cult following and became a fans favourite which often led the crowd to chant his name in an attempt to get him off the bench and onto the pitch.

There seems to have been a fair amount of discussion across the message boards about why Tito had such a strong backing from the fans? Was it because he scored more goals in the premiership that Steve Howard managed to? Was it because he scored against Forest? It’s much more simple than that though. Fans love a trier and will support any player is seen to be putting in their fair share of work. Good luck in the future Tito, it was nice knowing you.

Tyrone Mears has sealed his transfer to Turn Moor. Burnley have paid £500,000 for the defender although this figure could rise depending on add-ons.

Derby County took Mears on loan in January 2007 and later signed Mears on a permanent basis. Mears played 48 times and scored twice for the rams.