Football League World
·11 May 2024
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·11 May 2024
Blackburn Rovers are still interested in signing Duncan McGuire from Orlando City in the summer transfer window.
That's according to a report from The Lancashire Telegraph, who also say that the striker could be open to resurrecting his move to Ewood Park.
Back in the January transfer window, Blackburn had announced the signing of McGuire on loan with the option to buy in the final minutes before the market closed, after a somewhat drawn out saga.
However, it subsequently emerged that an administrative error by the club meant not all paperwork had been submitted on time.
As a result, the move was blocked, with McGuire returning to Orlando for the time being.
Now though, it appears as though Blackburn have not given up on bringing the 23-year-old to Ewood Park just yet.
Following the collapse of that deal in January, Rovers insisted they would continue to hold talks with McGuire and Orlando City about a potential summer deal for the striker.
According to this latest update, representatives from the Championship club have indeed continued to do that, with representatives from the club said to have been in talks with the striker.
It is thought that there is not yet a clear indication as to whether Blackburn will indeed look to sign McGuire in the summer transfer window.
However, they have seemingly left the door open for a move, while the striker himself could still apparently be willing to move to Ewood Park, despite what happened in January.
Indeed, the 23-year-old is expected to leave Orlando this summer, having turned down a new contract with the MLS club. His current deal in America is due to expire at the end of the calendar year.
Even if Blackburn do make a move for McGuire in the summer, they may not have it all their own way. The striker is also said to have attracted attention from across Europe with his form since returning to Orlando.
It is suggested that any club who do sign him this summer, will have to pay a fee in the region of £2.5million for his services.
Blackburn avoided relegation from the Championship on the final day of the season with a 2-0 win away at Leicester City, which secured them a 19th place finish in the final second-tier standings.
It does feel as though it would make sense for those at Ewood Park to make another move to sign McGuire in the summer.
For starters, it would give the striker the chance to complete a move he wanted to make back in January, and was denied the chance to do so through no fault of his own.
That would obviously be doing right by the player, and having missed out on that signing, the need for centre forward reinforcements at Blackburn was abundantly clear in the second-half of the season.
Bringing in McGuire looks as though it would go some way to addressing that issue, given how he has impressed in MLS since his move to Ewood Park fell through.
Beyond that, being able to right the wrong of January by bringing the striker to the club, especially when there are others interested, could see some much-needed confidence restored in those behind the scenes among the fanbase.
It is though, worth noting that Blackburn have changed head coach since the January window, with John Eustace replacing Jon Dahl Tomasson.
As a result, it remains to be seen whether that could lead to a change in players targeted by the club during the summer transfer window.
Even so, the circumstances around what happened in January and since, do mean that a deal for Duncan McGuire could still be well worth pursuing for Blackburn Rovers over the next few months.
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