Andreas Weimann is delighted to have completed his transfer to Derby County, and is relishing the challenge of helping them to promotion.
The Austria international has been in England since linking up with Aston Villa in 2007, and he went on to make over 100 Premier League appearances for the Claret and Blues. But the forward fell down the pecking order last season under Tim Sherwood, who was happy to let him leave for the Rams in a deal that the Derby Evening Telegraph believe to be in the region of £2million.
Derby missed out on the playoffs last term despite being in the mix for automatic promotion for much of the campaign, and have since replaced head coach Steve McClaren with Paul Clement. The addition of Weimann would appear to be a shrewd one, and although he has dropped down a division, the 23-year-old is determined to help fire the iPro Stadium club back into the top-flight.
“I’m excited to be here and I’m looking forward to the new challenge,” Weimann, who has 13 full caps but has yet to register his first goal for his country, said. “Derby have plans to be successful and get promoted and that’s what attracted me here; I want to be part of that. The opportunity to play first-team football and drive the team to promotion is something that I want to do.
“I know how difficult the Championship is. I played in the league on loan at Watford a few years ago and it was a tough league then. With the set-up here and the players we have – and those that we are looking to sign – I feel that we have a good chance to get promoted. I’ve had chats with the head coach and people around the club and it seems it’s an exciting time for Derby County.”
Meanwhile, Clement has also signed Chris Baird who played 19 times for West Bromwich Albion last season. The Northern Ireland international becomes Derby’s fifth signing since the end of last season, following the additions of Darren Bent, Alex Pearce, Scott Carson and Weimann.
