Blackburn Rovers set to take legal action to resolve Newcastle United transfer stalemate | OneFootball

Newcastle United still haven't agreed a transfer fee over 17-year-old wonderkid that they originally took from Blackburn in 2024.

Blackburn Rovers are planning legal action to end their transfer stalemate with Newcastle United, with a fee yet to be agreed for the deal that took 17-year-old Rory Finneran from Ewood Park to St James' last year.

Championship club Blackburn Rovers are considering legal action over a young player who was snatched from them by Newcastle United in the summer of 2024 without a transfer fee having been agreed for him.

Finneran had become their youngest ever when he made his full debut for them earlier that year in an FA Cup match against Cambridge United, but even though he was not able to sign professional forms for his new club until February 2025, no fee has been agreed for his move.

As such, this has now reportedly led to Blackburn assuming an aggressive stance in order to get the matter resolved once and for all.

Blackburn Rovers preparing legal action to resolve Newcastle United, Rory Finneran transfer situation

Journalist Alan Nixon reports via Patreon on Sunday that Blackburn are considering legal action against Newcastle United, with no payment having been agreed over the transfer of Irish wonderkid Rory Finneran in the summer of 2024.

Nixon reports that more than a season after Finneran turned down an extension to his scholarship at Blackburn and Newcastle stepped in to take the player to Tyneside, no fee has been agreed, and that Blackburn's patience has now run out on the matter.

They are now said to be considering either legal action, or forcing the matter to a transfer tribunal in order for a transfer fee to be agreed that way.

There is no indication given as to why no transfer fee has yet been agreed, but Finneran is evidently a highly-talented youngster having earned caps for the Ireland national team at under-15, under-17 and under-21 level, and Blackburn will rightly be expecting a decent compensation fee.

This is despite the fact that Blackburn had announced in July of last year that a tribunal would indeed be required in order to determine the compenasation they will be owed by Newcastle United. However, this has evidently not yet occurred.

Finneran had signed for Blackburn Rovers when he was eight years old

Finneran's departure from Blackburn Rovers in the summer of 2024 will have come as a huge disappointment to everybody at the club.

The highly-rated young midfielder had joined the Blackburn academy in 2016 at just eight years of age, and became their youngest ever player when he came on at the end of their FA Cup Third Round match against Cambridge United in January 2024 to replace Sammie Szmodics, who'd scored a first-half hat-trick to give Rovers a commanding lead.

They eventually won the game 5-2. Finneran had to wear a shirt without a sponsors' name on the front of it because of his age, because Rovers were at the time sponsored by an electronic cigarette manufacturer.

At the end of the season, though, Finneran rejected an offer to move to Premier League Newcastle United instead, even though under the rules of the game he wasn't allowed to sign his first professional contract with them until the following February, when he turned 17.

As such, said laws enable academy players under the age of 17 to switch between clubs at their own discretion.

It's now more than a year since this move happened, and considering the investment that Blackburn had put into this player, it's understandable that they're unhappy at no agreement having been reached.

There are many rules in place which limit the transfer of players below certain ages. Indeed, Premier League clubs aren't allowed to sign players under the age of 18 from abroad, and it's only because Finneran - who is an Irish citizen - had been at Blackburn since he was just eight years old that he was allowed to move to Newcastle at 15 in the first place.

Given the vast difference in financial resources between the two clubs, it's unsurprising that Blackburn are fuming at no fee having been paid for such a talented young player that they did most of the development work on.