Derby County & Middlesbrough both struck gold with Chelsea transfer - it ended in Wembley heartbreak though | OneFootball

Patrick Bamford was a big hit during his loan spells at Derby County and Middlesbrough, but he suffered Wembley agony with both clubs.

Striker Patrick Bamford recently earned promotion to the Premier League for the second time in his career with Leeds United.

After experiencing mixed fortunes during both loan and permanent spells with a host of clubs across England, Bamford has really made a name for himself since joining Leeds from Middlesbrough in the summer of 2018 for an initial fee of £7 million, rising to £10 million.

Bamford's impressive exploits during the early stages of his time at Elland Road earned him a call-up to the England senior squad in 2021, and while the last few years have been a little less productive for the 31-year-old due to fitness issues and a loss of form, he was still part of the Leeds team that won the Championship title this season.

Promotion may have become a familiar feeling for Bamford with the Whites, but he experienced very different emotions during his loan stints at Derby County and Middlesbrough as he suffered Wembley heartbreak in back-to-back seasons.

Derby County failed to reach the promised land despite Patrick Bamford masterstroke

Bamford was regarded as one of the most exciting young prospects in the country after joining Chelsea for a fee in the region of £1.5 million in January 2012, and two prolific loan spells at MK Dons only further strengthened his growing reputation.

After scoring 17 goals in 30 goals in his second temporary stint at Stadium MK in the first half of the 2013-14 season, Bamford was handed an opportunity in the Championship when he made a loan move to Derby in the January transfer window.

Bamford had come through the academy of the Rams' bitter rivals Nottingham Forest, so his arrival at Pride Park was not without controversy, but any reservations supporters may have had about the deal were quickly forgotten as he made a stunning start to life in the East Midlands.

Derby had surged up the Championship table after an outstanding run of form under new manager Steve McClaren, and Bamford helped to strengthen their place in the play-offs after scoring five goals in his first seven games for the club, including winners against Brighton & Hove Albion and Sheffield Wednesday and a late equaliser to salvage a point at Blackburn Rovers.

Despite Bamford's form declining a little after that, it was still a surprise to see him left out of the starting line-up by McClaren for both legs of the Rams' play-off semi-final against Brighton, but a thumping 6-2 aggregate victory vindicated the ex-England manager's decision.

With that in mind, it is understandable that McClaren stuck with the players who had got his side to the final for the game against QPR at Wembley, but Bamford was forced to wait until second-half stoppage time to be introduced from the bench as Derby desperately chased a goal after Bobby Zamora had put the 10-man R's ahead in the 90th minute.

Unfortunately for Bamford and his teammates, they were unable to find the equaliser they needed to send the game to extra time, but even though he was unable to achieve the ultimate prize of promotion, he certainly did himself no harm during his time at Pride Park.

Patrick Bamford suffered a repeat of Derby County agony at Middlesbrough

After proving his Championship credentials during his spell at Derby, Bamford returned to the second tier in the summer of 2014 when he joined Middlesbrough on an initial six-month loan, which would later be extended for the season.

Boro had finished 12th in the table the previous season, but following a strong end to the campaign under Aitor Karanka, they were widely tipped to challenge for promotion in 2014-15, and Bamford was seen as the final piece of the puzzle to help bring Premier League football back to the Riverside Stadium.

Bamford made a slow start to life on Teesside as he scored just one goal in his first six league appearances, but it would not be long until he found his feet at his new club, and a run of six goals in seven games between November and December showed supporters exactly what he was capable of.

With Bamford continuing to get on the scoresheet on a regular basis, Boro emerged as serious automatic promotion contenders, but they fell short of the top two by four points, eventually finishing the season in fourth place.

After overcoming Brentford in the play-off semi-finals, Karanka's men faced Norwich City in the final at Wembley, and having been named in the starting line-up on this occasion, Bamford would have been keen to right the wrongs of the previous season, but two quick-fire goals from the Canaries inside the first 15 minutes meant that the rest of the contest was something of a non-event.

Bamford finished the season as Boro's top scorer with 19 goals in 45 games, and, despite missing out on promotion for the second consecutive year, he was soon given an opportunity in the Premier League as the Championship's official best player.

However, Bamford failed to score a single goal in the top flight during his loan spells with Crystal Palace, Norwich and Burnley, and in an attempt to reignite his career, he returned to the Riverside Stadium on a permanent basis (pictured above) in January 2017 for a fee of around £5.5 million.

Bamford could not quite recapture the form he showed during his loan stint a few years earlier, and he was part of the Boro team that was relegated from the Premier League before losing in the Championship play-off semi-finals to Aston Villa the following season, but he did at least net the club a healthy profit when he made the move to Leeds.