Corey Blackett-Taylor has opened up on the difficult decision he made to leave Charlton Athletic and join Derby County last month.
Corey Blackett-Taylor had struggled to impress in his senior career before joining Charlton Athletic in 2021.
The winger netted ten goals and provided seven assists in his first two seasons in League One, but had already managed 14 goal contributions prior to his move to Pride Park.
Blackett-Taylor joined the Rams on loan with a view to a permanent deal in the summer, with his old club banking a £300,000 loan fee.
After really making a name for himself at The Valley, the 26-year-old has admitted that ‘it wasn’t an easy decision’ to leave the club. However, Paul Warne worked his magic and was able to convince Blackett-Taylor to complete the switch.
Speaking to Derbyshire Live, the attacker said: “It wasn’t an easy decision (to leave Charlton). There were a lot of conversations that took place between my agent, my family and my friends.
“A lot of it went down to the manager here and the intent he showed to bring me here. He really wanted to sign me, he looked at my career, looked ahead and told me where he thinks I can go. That’s when I kind of made my mind up. He showed me what I have done well this season and then showed clips of the other players in this team that play in similar positions.
“The players in those positions have scored similar goals that I have already and he said that I would fit in well, but he also showed me clips and statistics of where I can improve too.
“I was told at the start of the window that it was going to happen, but then it got delayed. I ended up training with Charlton but then I got the call it was back on again. A lot of the team (Charlton) knew that I was going but on the actual day I didn’t get to say goodbye because I was rushing about.”
How good can Blackett-Taylor become?
Corey Blackett-Taylor has only managed one start for Derby County so far and missed out on his return to Charlton due to injury at the weekend, but there is no doubt that he can become very important for Paul Warne.
The winger’s 15 goal contributions in all competitions is beaten by only Nathaniel Mendez-Laing at Derby County, though Blackett-Taylor did it in arguably a weaker team.
Blackett-Taylor has also made the most successful dribbles in League One (66), while Mendez-Laing is fourth with 48.
The forward has all the traits to be highly effective in the Rams’ attack and he should benefit even further from the goalscoring ability of James Collins in front of him.