Danny Ings for £0? Blackburn Rovers, Cardiff City & Sheffield Wednesday must respond | OneFootball

Blackburn Rovers, Cardiff City and Sheffield Wednesday should try to sign former England international striker Danny Ings on a free transfer.

With just a few days to go in the summer transfer window, there is plenty of action across the EFL in the market and one player yet to move but someone who surely will is former England international striker Danny Ings.

The money spent in the Championship goes up each summer and it has reached astronomical heights once again this time around, and yet some of the business will still be done ‘on the cheap’, so to speak.

A player of the pedigree and reputation of Ings is unlikely to command wages that could be categorised as ‘on the cheap’ but the fact that no transfer fee is involved certainly plays into that.

The 34-year-old, now someone who can be described as a veteran marksman, returned to the EFL in the 2025-26 season, moving to Sheffield United and contributing for The Blades as they pulled themselves clear of any relegation battle.

Two goals in 22 appearances wasn’t the greatest return but Chris Wilder still saw fit to often trust the experienced striker as a key part of the first-team setup in the second half of the season.

An eye for goal never does entirely diminish, even if that aspect of Ings’ capabilities has diminished in the last few years – albeit mainly playing at a higher level – and he could well turn out to be a smart addition for someone.

We have taken a look at three clubs who should be seeking to pull off a surprise move for the former AFC Bournemouth, Burnley, Liverpool, Aston Villa and West Ham United striker.

Blackburn Rovers

Action Images

Going against the current recruitment model at Ewood Park, with Blackburn primarily targeting younger players and those players largely coming from abroad in recent seasons, Danny Ings may well be a good fit for Rovers.

Stylistically, Tony Mowbray-coached sides tend to play with quite a lot of energy with and without the ball, and Ings did prove himself to still be useful in that regard when starting games for Sheffield United last season.

It has been a quiet summer transfer window from Blackburn thus far with what remains a steady-to-strong squad and with a few key striking options, such as Andri Gudjohnsen, Yuki Ohashi and Mathias Jorgensen.

However, beyond those three strikers, two of which may start a game with Ohashi and even Gudjohnsen capable of either playing slightly deeper or even out-wide, a lack of depth remains.

A young squad, as Blackburn like to have, their strong start to the Championship season will have supporters already believing their 'Jekyll and Hyde' character is taking over again, aiming to challenge for the top eight and the play-off places, rather than face another relegation battle this time around.

As a result, a bit of nous and experience in the final third wouldn’t go amiss, and Ings would be a cost-effective way of solving a slight issue in the squad – albeit a controversial move given his links to Blackburn’s arch-rivals Burnley.

Cardiff City

Action Images

Cardiff are another side that may well be looking up the Championship table and perhaps even believing they can push towards the top eight and the play-off places, following their immediate return from League One last season.

Brian Barry-Murphy has trusted in the academy setup at Cardiff to build this current squad but there remains room for experience, with Callum Robinson a great example of that in attack.

What is expected this season is that Cardiff continue to try and dominate possession as they did in League One, boasting the most average possession in the third-tier last season as they finished as runners’ up to runaway champions Lincoln City.

Birmingham City attempted to do the same last year but problems in both boxes arose at St Andrew’s, which had been a slight issue in the first half of their 2024-25 League One title-winning campaign.

For Cardiff, teams will likely adjust and, again, as was the case for Birmingham and in League One for The Bluebirds, begin to sit back and allow them to play with the ball with the hope their endless possession becomes toothless and futile.

That is where an experienced marksman off the bench would come in handy and that is where someone like Danny Ings may well be a surprising but very useful addition.

Yousef Salech would remain the main striker with Callum Robinson and able deputy but Ings provides different attributes to the latter, who can stretch the play, more focused on being a ‘fox in the box’, which could prove pivotal in close contests when Cardiff are dominating but searching for a killer instinct in the penalty area.

Sheffield Wednesday

Like Blackburn, another controversial but perhaps very suitable suitor for Danny Ings would be Sheffield Wednesday; a move that would see him move across the Steel City in the same summer.

In a similar way to Cardiff albeit without the perhaps distinct and extreme passing style of Barry-Murphy, Henrik Pedersen’s Owls are expected to dominate possession and most games that they play in League One, especially with a midfield that boasts Callum Slattery, Barry Bannan and Billy Mitchell.

Their summer business has been impressive but there could well be room for another out and out striker up-front – and Ings would seem the ideal profile to compliment what they are already have.

The experienced Jamal Lowe can act as an all-rounder up-front, albeit not the most efficient in front of goal, and that can also be said for Hull City loanee Mason Burstow, who possesses a lot of qualities in terms of his link-up play, work ethic and intelligence for reading of the game.

However, a pure goal scorer, a phrase that has been given to Ings in the past, is not yet something that Wednesday boast – but something that would be ideal, again in tight games when teams have frustrated them.

Ings dropping to League One would be somewhat of a surprise but perhaps no more surprising than some of their other coups, such as Bannan, Louie Barry, Burstow and Kieran Morrison.