"No real secret" - Blackburn Rovers exit claim made on Makhtar Gueye | OneFootball

The Blackburn Rovers striker has barely featured this season

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...

Blackburn Rovers have experienced a mixed first third of the 2025/26 Championship campaign.

Having come just two points shy of a play-off finish last term, the East Lancashire outfit suffered a dreadful transfer window, which saw proven Championship operators such as Dom Hyam, Lewis Travis, Callum Brittain, Joe Rankin-Costello, Andreas Weimann and Danny Batth all exit the club to join fellow second-tier sides.

Rovers have subsequently dropped down the league and sit 19th in the standings heading into the November international break. Matters were much worse for Blackburn earlier in the season however, as they spent some time in the relegation zone after a run of scoring just one point in five matches.

Valerien Ismael have enjoyed a mini resurgence with three wins in their last four matches, which may ease the minds of some supporters fearing the drop down to League One.

January exit predicted for Blackburn Rovers striker

Despite their recent upturn in form, Rovers are still just six points clear of Sheffield United in 22nd and have tasted defeat in eight of their first 14 matches.

Given that the situation at Ewood Park isn’t perfect at this moment in time, it wouldn’t be surprising to see a number of players come and go at Blackburn in the upcoming winter transfer window.

When queried on who could exit the club in January, Football League World’s Blackburn Rovers fan pundit, Simon Middlehurst, believes that injuries may prevent business to some degree, but one man still stands out as the favourite to move on.

“I can't really see many players departing in January,” stated Simon. “We've got a depleted squad at the moment with a number of players out injured until January, so it will all depend on how their fitness goes.

“However, it wouldn't surprise me if Makhtar Gueye is sold or loaned out in January. It's no real secret that he's craving minutes, and he's not getting them this season. He's been coming on with only 10–15 minutes to spare.

“Valerien Ismael now just doesn't seem to be a fan of his, so he'd probably be one player. I wouldn't be surprised if he left.

“Apart from that, we kind of really need to keep the squad together. We've got a lot of injuries at the minute, and we need to get them players back fit.”

Makhtar Gueye hasn’t been deployed often by Valerien Ismael

Gueye joined Blackburn in the summer of 2024 and despite not being the most delicate player technically, proved to have the destructive tendencies necessary to cause defences problems in the Championship.

The 27-year-old scored eight goals and provided six assists in all competitions last term and was a key operator for John Eustace, but saw his role in the team dramatically decrease following Ismael’s appointment in February.

This season, Gueye is yet to achieve a second-tier start and has only played 126 minutes after 14 games, which highlights just how opposed Ismael is to deploying the striker.

Having been rumoured with a move away from Ewood Park during the summer window, January might provide the perfect opportunity for Rovers and Gueye to part ways, a reality that would’ve seemed quite strange at times last season.