Blackburn Rovers will always regret £3m Newcastle United disaster after Premier League relegation | OneFootball

Blackburn Rovers will always regret the £3 million signing of Leon Best from Newcastle United in the summer of 2012.

Ever since their relegation from the Premier League in 2012, Blackburn Rovers have failed to mount a serious tilt for promotion, aside from the occasional flirtation with the top six and the play-off places in the Championship.

Their best opportunity to do so perhaps came in their first season back down in the second-tier, the 2012/13 campaign, when Blackburn came into the division as one of the favourites to immediately return to the top-flight.

They embarked upon a somewhat bizarre summer transfer window which saw some heavy recruitment of a fair few unknown players coming from Portugal, alongside former Portugal international striker Nuno Gomes.

The marquee addition was Jordan Rhodes, though, with the Scotsman arriving at Ewood Park from Huddersfield Town on the back of becoming arguably the best goalscorer in the Football League.

Rhodes’ intended striking partner also provoked a fairly significant outlay that summer, though, as Blackburn signed Leon Best for a fee believed to be in the region of £3 million from Newcastle United – but he badly flopped in Lancashire.

Leon Best failed to show any form at Blackburn Rovers

Having been a highly-rated youngster at Southampton and then even with Coventry City, Newcastle had purchased Best in the second-half of the 2009/10 campaign, to propel them to the title.

Whilst the Magpies did win the second-tier title, Best struggled for form as he failed to score in 13 appearances, before then forming a strong partnership with Andy Carroll in the 2010/11 season, where he scored six goals in 11 games, hit by injuries throughout.

After another injury-hit campaign at St James’ Park, albeit one that had flashes of quality, Blackburn signed him for what would appear to be a bit of a coup – albeit for a hefty fee.

However, just before the season began, Best suffered an ACL injury which saw him miss the vast majority of his first season at Ewood Park, making just six appearances in the Championship for Rovers.

On the opening day of the 2013/14 season, looking to put that nightmare-ish start behind him, Best came off the bench to score his first Blackburn goal in a 1-1 draw against Derby County.

However, he would score just one more in a further seven appearances before being loaned out to Sheffield Wednesday for the remainder of the campaign in February 2014.

Best, who had signed a four-year deal, was now half-way through it with very little to show for his Blackburn career, having been tasked with spearheading their return to the Premier League.

Things did not improve for Leon Best at Blackburn Rovers

The 2014/15 season saw Best play for both Derby County and Brighton and Hove Albion on loan, with the Ireland international deemed surplus to requirements at Ewood Park.

Across those two spells, he failed to score in 28 Championship appearances and, in the summer of 2015, Best departed Blackburn via mutual consent, with a year left on his initial deal.

The next few seasons saw him continue his journeyman career with underwhelming stints at Rotherham United and Ipswich Town in the second-tier, before finishing his career after a goalless five-game stint at Charlton Athletic in League One.

Rhodes hadn’t fired Blackburn into the Premier League, but he still majorly contributed as a marquee addition, with 83 goals in 159 Championship appearances for the club.

Best, on the other hand, signed a four-year deal after joining for a hefty fee and managed just 16 appearances across all competitions for the club, whilst also leaving on a free transfer; highlighting just how much of a failure his move was on a sporting and financial level.