Derby County have finally completed the signing of Huddersfield Town midfielder Jacob Butterfield, after a long-running transfer wrangle between the two Championship clubs.
Huddersfield confirmed on their official website that Butterfield has departed the John Smith's Stadium for an undisclosed fee, but noted that the fee was surpassed only by the club record fee of £8million the Terriers pulled in for Jordan Rhodes three summers ago.
Butterfield only joined Huddersfield last summer after another long-running transfer saga which involved the transfer of Adam Clayton to former club Middlesbrough, yet despite his apparent nomadic status, the 25-year-old is widely regarded as one of the most talented midfield players in the second tier.
The former Manchester United youth player was named the Terriers' Player of the Season last term after scoring seven goals in 50 appearances from midfield, and fans will be disappointed to see their star man leave the club so late in the window.
An injury-hit midfield at the iPro
The Rams have suffered a number of injuries to key players in recent weeks, most notably to young midfield star Will Hughes, who is set to miss a large part of the season after cruciate ligament surgery.
But Derby boss Paul Clement is insistent that Butterfield has not been brought in purely to "make up the numbers", telling the club's official website that he is "a very talented player" and "a quality addition" to his squad.
Butterfield hopes to help Rams over early-season bump
The pre-season promotion favourites have stuttered at the start to life under Clement, finding themselves winless in their first five league games of the season and already dumped out of the Capital One Cup by lower-league opposition..
Butterfield will arrive hoping to help his teammates improve on their current record of just four points from five league games and he says he has been "really impressed" with what he described as an "absolutely fantastic" club since his arrival.