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Paul Warne reveals Ebou Adams strategy as Derby County reached 'point' of quitting transfer
Paul Warne has revealed how Derby County had to be "coy" in their bid to sign Ebou Adams from Cardiff City this summer.
The midfielder put pen to paper on a deal at Pride Park after the club paid an undisclosed fee for his services thought to be worth around £500,000. Fans were keen for Derby to bring Adams back to the club after he played a pivotal role in their promotion from League One during a loan spell with the Bluebirds.
The club eventually sealed the deal after weeks of negotiations but Warne admitted that Derby had to play it cool to ensure they didn't pay over the odds.
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"We always wanted to sign him," Warne told a Derby fans' forum. "I was entitled to be in contact with him because he was now my friend. I had his number and I wasn't doing anything illegal. I was speaking to him, making sure everything was all right, finding out his missus was and had he decided what he was doing yet.
"We obviously had a few conversations like that, but he was Cardiff's player, and you have to be respectful about what you say in the press. I even got told there was a Twitter page saying, 'Please sign,' which was a disaster for us because Cardiff would see it and think, 'we are cooking here; they will pay whatever because they are desperate'.
"We had to play it a little bit coy in that we were interested but not that bothered. That's how negotiations go. It took a lot longer than we wanted it to because we never wanted to show our hand. We didn't want to spend more than we had to because it stops you from doing other stuff so it did go on for a long period of time.
"We knew there was a point we wouldn't go any further and we went past that twice. We ended up doing it just before we went away. But we knew in the last week that we were virtually there. It was just a bit of toing and froing, an extra 50p here and things like that."
Chief executive Stephen Pearce added: "You get to a point where you end up just walking away. We did get to that point but that's when it all clicked into place and they just thought they are serious now. We got to that limit where we wouldn't go any further. But it all just clicked then."
