Korey Smith reveals Championship offers as he explains what enticed him about Derby County transfer

New signing Korey Smith has revealed how he rejected offers from the Championship in order to achieve "something special" at Derby County.

The former Bristol City midfielder became the club's 11th signing at the weekend as he signed a two-year deal on a free transfer after leaving Swansea. Smith is set to feature in tomorrow night's friendly against Stevenage having been in the stands to watch their 1-0 win over Hertha Berlin at the weekend.

Having played 35 games in the Championship last season, Smith said he had offers to remain in the division, but said the determination of interim boss Liam Rosenior to sign him had been key.

"It is brilliant to be here," he told Rams TV. "I’ve been speaking to the club for a while, pretty much as soon as my contract ended at Swansea. Derby were in contact and showing a real interest the day after, so I liked that. I liked that they wanted me from early on in the summer and I spoke to Liam Rosenior a few times and my gut was always pulling me towards Derby.

"I spoke with a few teams, I had some offers from Championship teams, but my gut was telling me that there was a chance to do something special here and that was exciting for me."

Smith has been promoted three times during his career, two of which came at Norwich and Bristol City. He is another high-quality addition at Pride Park where Conor Hourihane, James Chester, James Collins and David McGoldrick have been among the standout captures.

While the former Oldham midfielder admitted he had spoken to other clubs, he was lured by the project at Derby where he hopes to help lead them back to the Championship.

"I had to have the conversations with other clubs. I had offers on the table but after giving it some time and weighing up