Derby has agreed on a fee that will take Tyrone Mears back to the Premiership as a Burnley player. He leaves behind him memories of a saving tackle at Wembley and an escape act worthy of Houdini.

Mears will join Premiership newbies Burnley in a move that will allow the boy to again play at a level that he has stated constantly, is where he belongs. The fact it is at a newly promoted team and not the rumoured move to Portsmouth may suggest he is not as highly regarded as when in front of a mirror.

The Clarets had their £500,000 bid accepted on Wednesday after Mears was being linked to various clubs in the Premiership and Championship.

The move comes after the 26-year-old defenders loan spell at Marseille last season, failed to land him a permanent contract at the French club.

Burnley Manager Owen Coyle spoke about where the deal stands:

'The two clubs have agreed a fee and talks with a view to making the transfer permanent will take place when the player and his representative return from holiday.'

Excuse me if I sound cynical but it’s pretty handy when your representative is on holiday during the busiest transfer period of the year. Mind you, after his decision to do a runner last season it would actually make it much clearer where that advice may have come from.

Now that the former Manchester City and West Ham player is leaving the club for good, how will he be remembered?

Well….there is no doubt Mears showed a lot of promise with all of the tools required to become a good player at an elite level. At Derby he never really used all of those tools at the same time and in fact after the incident with Jewell, ended up looking like one.

Maybe that summary is a little harsh as no one really knows what happened with Paul Jewell and Mears was not the only player on the outer with the former manager. It is just a shame that on return he didn’t knuckle down and present an attitude that would have at least left the fans with a slightly less sour taste in their mouth.

Whatever the case the Rams have at least raised half the fee Blackpool are trying to convince themselves it will take to prise Shaun Barker from their grasp.

I say offer them the thousand monkeys and Liam Dickinson.

Deal done!

Photo: Action Images

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