Luke Varney must have lived out of a suitcase for much of his playing career, as the EFL nomad played for up to eleven different clubs across the top four tiers throughout his 18-year professional career.
Some clubs got a season or two out of the striker, while others only got a game or two, but no matter where he played, he was always dangerous in front of goal.
Derby County has only seen the frontman play 12 times since his loan from Charlton Athletic was made permanent in winter 2009.
His spell at Pride Park would prove to be a frustrating one for Varney at the time, with a contract clause stopping him from living life to the full after joining County.
Luke Varney’s move to Derby County hindered by contract scenario
Varney’s rise from non-league Quorn to Charlton Athletic, via Crewe Alexandra, earned him a reputation as a hotshot in his early playing days. The Addicks paid an estimated £2 million to bring him to the Valley in 2007.
However, after just over a season in south London, the striker was on the move again. Despite playing 18 league games for his present employers until November, he agreed to a loan stay with Derby until the end of the year. The agreement became permanent on January 1.
Things had not gone well with Charlton, and it wouldn’t be long before the same happened at Pride Park, though Varney’s control was slightly more limited the second time around.
Despite just scoring once in seven games before the permanent move, the striker’s work rate and movement were unmatched. His one goal for the Rams came in a 2-1 defeat to Crystal Palace.
New Year’s Day comes and goes, Varney is a permanent County player after a reported £1 million deal, and things seemed to be progressing as normal, until they weren’t.
Luke Varney finally forces Derby County exit
Varney spent another year in Yorkshire, although he was still on County’s books. He must have been hoping for a permanent departure by the summer of 2010, but he still had a year on his deal.
His annual handful of games for Derby at the start of the season followed, this time limited to just one appearance, before being loaned out to Premier League side Blackpool, leaving Rams fans perplexed as to what their employee had done wrong to be unworthy of game time at Pride Park.
Nothing, it turned out, apart from actually play matches. That was deemed to be the issue, with County unwilling to Charlton another £500,000 if Varney played ten games for the club, resulting in the rigmarole that unfolded over the next three years.
“There obviously was never problem with myself and my talent. I was stuck not playing because of Derby’s financial situation,” Varney said after agreeing a move to Portsmouth in the summer of 2011.
“I’m glad at the end of the day and I’m just pleased now to have cut my ties with Derby.”
That second line must have been something of an understatement, with Varney’s three years of personal imprisonment coming to an end, he was a man free of the shackles that the Rams had put on him.
Saying that, a life of short-term moves and loan spells continued to pepper his career. Maybe all that time as a County player gave him the taste for a hotel breakfast, who knows.
