Why Blackburn Rovers' £7m transfer bet involving Nottingham Forest was a serious winner | OneFootball

Blackburn's £7m gamble in 2019 paid off in spades as Ben Brereton Diaz banged in the goals.

Blackburn Rovers took a big gamble when they signed Ben Brereton Diaz from Nottingham Forest on a permanent basis in January 2019.

The forward joined in a deal worth a reported £7 million after initially arriving on loan in the summer of 2018.

The Chile international was proving a useful squad player at that stage, but hadn’t particularly shown enough that looked to justify such a big outlay for the Lancashire outfit at that stage.

He hadn’t scored for Tony Mowbray’s side prior to his loan move becoming a permanent deal, and had only just started his first league game for the club right before the January market opened.

But by the time he departed Blackburn for nothing in 2023, he was fondly regarded as one of the team’s best players in quite some time and his departure was met with great disappointment.

Ben Brereton Diaz’s slow start Blackburn Rovers

Brereton Diaz’s start to life at Ewood Park wasn’t spectacular, with the forward starting in four of 25 league appearances.

He contributed just one goal and one assist, with the team finishing 15th in the table in their first year back in the Championship after gaining promotion from League One in 2018.

Things didn’t get much better when he turned 20, as he started just seven of 15 games in the second division the following year, scoring just once again, with the price tag associated with his move starting to look quite baffling.

However, by the 2020/21 campaign, everything started to click for the attacker, who started to cement himself as a key figure in the side.

Brereton Diaz began the season as a consistent starter, and his breakthrough in front of goal came in a 3-1 defeat to Watford in October of that year.

Two goals and one assist in three games in November in wins against QPR and Preston North End was another big moment for his career at Ewood Park.

He finished the year with seven goals and four assists in the league, with Blackburn again finishing 15th.

Ben Brereton Diaz’s impressive goal record

By the time Brereton Diaz turned 22, he was becoming one of the best forwards in the entire Championship.

The 2021/22 campaign is where the Chile international really put himself on the map of world football, scoring 22 times in the league as Blackburn narrowly missed out on a play-off place under Mowbray.

Speculation began to surround his future, particularly with his displays at international level also garnering attention.

But Blackburn opted to take a risk and keep him going into his final year of his contract with the Lancashire outfit in the hope he could keep up his scoring form and push the team into a top six finish.

It was a big bet to make on the player, and it didn’t quite pay off as his form took a minor dip, but he still managed 14 goals and four assists, with Rovers improving to seventh in the table.

Brereton Diaz left for nothing, and hasn’t been able to hit those heights again with Villarreal, Sheffield United or Southampton. Blackburn supporters, though, will always remember his time at Ewood Park fondly after he eventually more than justified the £7 million price paid to sign him with his performances on the pitch.