Mixed Blackburn Rovers transfer regret claim made - 'difficult' Sammie Szmodics factor cited | OneFootball

Harry Leonard was sold to Peterborough United last summer for around £1m

Blackburn Rovers rank second-worst for goals scored in the Championship this season with a mere 34.

Only Sheffield Wednesday, who are already relegated, have scored fewer goals than Rovers so far in 25/26, and it's clear the Lancashire-based side have been lacking a regular supply of them for some time.

With this in mind, the decision to cash in on Harry Leonard and sell the striker to Peterborough United for a fee in the region of £1m last summer surely has to come back into focus.

Leonard has 17 goal contributions in the third tier for Posh, and it raises the question of whether Blackburn were too quick to give up on a young forward who never really had an extended run at Ewood Park.

"Difficult" Blackburn Rovers stance on Harry Leonard that involves Sammie Szmodics

From the perspective of FLW’s Blackburn Fan Pundit, Simon Middlehurst, the starting point is that Leonard was never really given the platform to properly prove himself in the Championship.

Middlehurst told FLW, "To be honest, I don’t think Harry Leonard was given much of a chance."

That feeling is understandable when you consider that while Leonard was breaking through, Rovers were heavily reliant on prolific senior forwards in his position, which inevitably limited the minutes available to an academy striker.

"But then again looking at when he was with the club, obviously we had Sammie Szmodics, Ben Brereton Diaz etc, players who were getting the goals for us, so it was really, really difficult to say whether he would’ve been a hit if he was given a consistent run of games," Middlehurst added.

Szmodics, of course, went on that remarkable scoring run in 23/24 and finished the Championship campaign with 27 goals, firmly establishing himself as the focal point of Blackburn’s attack.

Before that, Brereton Diaz had already carried a sizeable part of the goal burden with 16 league strikes in 22/23, the season Leonard first appeared at senior level, which again showed how hard it was for a youngster to start up front during that time.

Which is perhaps why Middlehurst then said, "So, it’s a little bit of a difficult one. Could he have been a success in the Championship? Possibly, but it was really hard to tell."

Blackburn Rovers may have rushed £1m Harry Leonard sale to Peterborough United

Since swapping Ewood Park for the Weston Homes Stadium, Leonard has quickly shown why Peterborough were ready to invest in him as a long-term project.

He has scored 13 goals in 34 appearances across all competitions for Posh since the move, with further assists taking him to 17 goal contributions before being interrupted by hernia surgery at the start of March. For some added context, Rovers' top scorer this season, Yuki Ohashi, has eight.

For a 22-year-old, those numbers are a very encouraging return and would naturally catch the eye of Blackburn fans watching from afar, particularly given Rovers' aforementioned struggles in front of goal this term.

Middlehurst acknowledges the positive trajectory Leonard has found at Peterborough, which feeds into the wider debate, saying, "It’s great that, you know, he’s contributed so well to Peterborough, he’s getting a good string of games under his belt, and he’s playing well for them."

Regardless of being in the middle of a one-month injury setback, at Posh, Leonard has enjoyed a clear run of starts - 27 in 29 league appearances - which is something he rarely benefitted from in the Championship.

However, when you factor in that Leonard managed only nine Championship outings last season, despite Szmodics and Brereton Diaz no longer being at the club, it does add another layer to the argument though.

Middlehurst concluded his verdict on Rovers letting Leonard go for £1m as a "bit of a difficult one really to answer," and it's surely hard to disagree with.