REPORT: “Affordable” – Blackburn Rovers situation discussed amid links to Birmingham City raid

After just one season at St. Andrew’s Stadium, Siriki Dembélé has already been linked with a move away from Birmingham City, with Championship club Blackburn Rovers interested in the services of the 27-year-old.

Blackburn’s John Eustace is keen to link back up with Dembélé, just under a year after being sacked as Birmingham manager, according to Alan Nixon.

However, with Rovers’ history of minimal spending, it seems unlikely that a move will be made for the winger unless Sammie Szmodics is sold before the transfer deadline.

Szmodics scored 27 goals in the Championship last season, including a brace against Leicester City on the final day to help his team survive in what was a torrid season for the Lancashire-based club.

Blackburn will kick off the new campaign on Friday 9 August against Derby County, and have only added young goalkeeper Jack Barrett to their ranks since the window opened, and with more outgoings likely in the coming weeks, Eustace’s side do look to be in trouble.

Blackburn’s transfer policy relies on reinvestment

Despite selling Adam Wharton for a club record £22 million in February to Crystal Palace, Rovers have failed to spend the money on new players, and are at risk of losing more stars, including Sam Gallagher, who looks likely to join Stoke City.

FLW’s Blackburn Fan Pundit, Toby, believes that Dembélé could be the right fit to add more firepower to his team’s attack, with Birmingham potentially happy to let him go: “It’s an interesting one, I think if Blackburn are going to reinvest the Szmodics money, then I can see Dembélé being affordable.

It looks as though Birmingham do have replacements for him already in the building and certainly, given he never fully held down a place last season, I think they would also be open to letting him go if they get the sort of bid that Blackburn could potentially make with that money.

“If they are going to spend it, and obviously given how things have gone so far, it feels very unclear whether or not they will be investing much of that Szmodics money back into the squad should he go.”