Football League World
·4 October 2024
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·4 October 2024
FLW's Blackburn Rovers fan pundit has given his view on which player is most likely to attract transfer interest this summer.
This article is part of Football League World’s 'Terrace Talk' series, which provides personal opinions from our FLW Fan Pundits regarding the latest breaking news, teams, players, managers, potential signings and more…
It has been an excellent start to the season for Blackburn Rovers in the Championship.
After only narrowly avoiding relegation last term, many were expecting another season of struggle for Blackburn this time around, particularly after they lost top scorer Sammie Szmodics to Ipswich Town in the summer.
However, Rovers have made an outstanding start to the campaign, winning four and drawing three of their first eight games, and one player who has been key to their success is winger Tyrhys Dolan.
Dolan made the move across Lancashire to join Blackburn from local rivals Preston North End in July 2020, and he has been an integral part of the team over the last four years.
Luton Town were said to have been interested in Dolan this summer after their relegation from the Premier League, but while he remained at Ewood Park, Rovers do still face the prospect of losing him at the end of the season when his contract expires.
When asked which player he believes will garner the most transfer interest in January, FLW's Blackburn Rovers fan pundit Toby Wilding admitted he would not be surprised if Dolan was on the radar of other clubs.
"Tyrhys Dolan has obviously been impressing so far this season and he's out of contract in the summer, so I wouldn't be surprised if clubs try their luck with him in January when they can perhaps put a bit of pressure on Rovers to sell," Toby said.
"I do still think that given how important he is to this team at the minute and given that at his age, Rovers would still be entitled to compensation this summer if he leaves when his contract expires, they would still look for a decent fee.
"I would like to think that somewhere in the region of £5m at the very least in the circumstances.
"As for interested clubs, I saw that Luton were linked with him in the summer, so maybe those sort of sides that would have been expected to push for promotion from the Championship this season and maybe even some lower-end clubs in the Premier League.
"I wouldn't be too surprised to see those sorts of sides linked with him."
Dolan will be entering the final six months of his contract at Ewood Park by the time the January transfer window opens, and it is difficult to disagree with Toby that he is likely to attract interest from elsewhere.
The winger has proven himself to be a more than capable Championship performer over the last four years, and while his goal and assist return should arguably be higher, he would still be an asset for a promotion-chasing team.
Blackburn should be able to command a decent fee for Dolan in January, but with Eustace's side currently among the front-runners in the Championship, his exit would be hugely damaging to their promotion hopes.