Leeds United

LATEST: £500,000 Leeds United departee Is Considered By Blackburn Rovers

Published

5 months ago

July 11, 2024

Blackburn Rovers are reported to be looking at buying Hull City’s Sean McLoughlin as an alternative option to former Leeds United captain Liam Cooper.

Hull’s defensive options are being ravaged at the moment. Their main man at the back, Jacob Greaves, looks set to sign for newly promoted Ipswich Town. He has been given permission to undertake a medical with the Tractor Boys, as per The Athletic, who submitted a joint £35 million bid for him and teammate Jaden Philogene.

The future of the winger is unknown, with multiple teams vying for him, but Greaves does look set to join Kieran McKenna’s side.

Now it looks like another one of their central defenders could be on the move, this time to a Championship rival.

Blackburn Rovers interested in Sean McLoughlin

Journalist Alan Nixon has said that the 27-year-old Irishman is someone that Rovers are keen on signing, who may be available for £500,000, plus some add-ons.

The club’s owners, the Venkys, are looking into ways of funding the deal, but there have been issues with getting the money over from India due to ongoing investigations into their company.

Blackburn are working on a tight budget but this move could present an opportunity to do some business that’s on the cheaper end if the Tigers are happy with the payment structure that Rovers would offer.

They haven’t got an abundance of depth at centre-back as things stand, which is why they are looking at options like McLoughlin. Nixon believes that Eustace would be happy to bring Kyle McFadzean back, but the club want a younger profile than the 37-year-old.

This has also been an apparent issue with another target in Cooper. They are believed to have spoken to the former Leeds captain but he is considered to be a bit too long in the tooth and expensive, compared to his Hull counterpart.

Blackburn signed another Irish centre-back in January. Connor O’Riordan joined from League Two side Crewe Alexandra for the same price as they are looking to pay for McLoughlin, according to the Lancashire Telegraph but he didn’t kick on in his opening months at Ewood Park.

McLoughlin move would represent some smart business by Blackburn

If you’re a team, like Rovers are, who were almost relegated last season, and you don’t have a decent budget or a thriving boss to guide you, you’ve got to be clever in how you operate in the off-season.

Eustace is a good manager, but he’s not a Danny Röhl, who now has so much pull because of what he achieved last season by keeping Sheffield Wednesday up. Rovers also don’t have the finances that a team like Birmingham City have (yes, they went down but the point still stands).

McLoughlin isn’t anything particularly fancy, but he’s a solid, mostly dependable Championship centre-back. That profile would be very handy for them.

He’s made 89 appearances at the level and he’s the type of defender that should pretty easily fit into the manager’s system.

Hull didn’t use him a whole bunch last season, but that should only mean that they are more willing to work with Rovers in negotiating a deal, because they’re not doing what Ipswich are and taking away one of their best players.

Times like this require intelligent recruitment. McLoughlin may end up being a solid sign of that if he moves to Ewood Park.