Derby County completed the signing of Hull City defender Curtis Davies on Wednesday for an undisclosed fee. He has agreed to a two-year deal with The Rams as they look to finally gain promotion to the Premier League under the leadership of Gary Rowett. However, is Davies the right signing they need?
Centre-back Davies joins the Championship side with a wealth of experience. He spent four years with Hull, and in that time he gained promotion to the Premier League, suffered relegation twice and helped them all the way to an F.A Cup final.
It is safe to say he has experienced an awful lot. Having also played for West Bromwich Albion, Aston Villa and Birmingham City at top flight level he certainly has the knowledge of playing at the highest level in English football.
Curtis Davies was a constant and consistent performer for Hull before the arrival of Marco Silva in January but saw his appearances numbered in the final months of the season. Despite Silva departing the KCOM Stadium, Davies still decided that his time with The Tigers was over.
With 460 professional games under his belt and 32 years old people might be thinking that he would start to wind down his career but according to Davies, he is not. He sees the move as a fresh challenge and a way of prolonging his career as much as he can.
He will certainly be focused on the task at hand come August when the new Championship season commences. More than anything Derby need someone with his experience.
They have failed once again to gain promotion to the Premier League, despite being in a strong position to do so for a lot of the season. That inexperience needs to be eradicated, and the signing of Curtis Davies is a step in the right direction to remove the stigma that lies over the Championship club.
He was the captain during his time at West Brom and deputised when he was at Birmingham and Hull showing he is a real leader amongst men.
The former England under-21 defender is not afraid of a battle. He is not one to shy away from an aerial duel nor is he one to duck out of a challenge.
He is a classic English centre-half and the kind of person you would want in the trenches with you when things look bad.
He has stated that one of the main reasons for the move was the allure of working for a brilliant manager such as Rowett.
With him, in charge, you feel he might be able to bring in players of the same calibre as their most recent signing in the coming weeks.
The addition of Davies makes perfect sense for Derby County and Gary Rowett. The experience he brings will be vital as they push for promotion next season.
He will be able to guide younger players such as Will Hughes, Thomas Ince and Cyrus Christie mentally about the heartbreak of failure and assure them that promotion is still achievable for them despite several setbacks.
