Blackburn Rovers in transfer talks with Lorient over £5m striker deal | OneFootball

According to reports, Blackburn Rovers are interested in an ambitious deal for Lorient frontman Sambou Soumano

Championship outfit Blackburn Rovers are plotting an ambitious transfer deal for Lorient striker Sambou Soumano, who is valued at £5 million or more by the French side.

As reported on Monday evening by The Sun's Alan Nixon - via his exclusive Patreon service - Rovers have entered negotiations with Lorient over a move for Soumano.

The 24-year-old striker would set Blackburn, who have operated on an increasingly-modest budget under the Venky's in recent times, back some way financially, and it would undoubtedly be a surprise to supporters to see the club spending the quoted figure on a single player.

The Lancashire side have, however, adopted a continental approach to recruitment, having signed the likes of Ryan Alebiosu, Moussa Baradji, Dion De Neve, Axel Henriksson, Ryoya Morishita and Sidnei Tavares from overseas this summer.

Blackburn have endured a mixed start to the 2025/26 Championship campaign, and lost their opening two encounters against West Bromwich Albion and Birmingham City before claiming a 3-0 victory over Hull City at the MKM Stadium on Saturday afternoon.

Blackburn Rovers in Lorient, Sambou Soumano transfer talks

According to Nixon, Blackburn are in talks with newly-promoted Ligue 1 side Lorient regarding a deal for Soumano, who is described as "available" at a cost of £5 million or more.

It's said that Blackburn, who are intent on adding more firepower to Valerien Ismael's squad before the end of the window, watched Soumano in action during Lorient's 4-0 rout of Rennes, in which he opened the scoring just before the interval.

Indeed, Soumano himself is reportedly eager to come to England and "could consider" a move to the Championship, although that will depend on whether Blackburn can find a way to make the deal work.

Blackburn are reportedly aiming to propose a compromise with an offer consisting of an unspecified fee upfront along with bonuses, while a deal including a "huge promotion payment" could potentially be of interest to Lorient amid their current asking price of at least £5 million.

Nixon's update adds the outcome will be decided by who is able to come up with the highest guaranteed, upfront fee in the coming days, which implies that Blackburn are facing competition from other sides in their pursuit of a deal for Soumano.

Lorient's Sambou Soumano would be an interesting signing for Blackburn Rovers

Soumano would certainly represent an intriguing acquisition for Blackburn, with his goalscoring pedigree accumulated over the previous two campaigns in Ligue 2 not to be sniffed at.

The 24-year-old, who scored three times for Lorient during the 2021/22 Ligue 1 campaign, really made his name by finding the back of the net on 15 occasions while on loan at Quevilly two seasons ago. He followed that up by scoring 14 goals from just 32 appearances last time out to help Lorient to promotion, and he's already off the mark for the season in France's top-tier.

There are, of course, no guarantees that his productive track record in Ligue 2 would translate to the Championship, but he's a striker who clearly knows where the back of the net is and that's exactly what Ismael is crying out for at Ewood Park.

Not a single Blackburn player managed to hit double digits for league goals last season as the side narrowly missed out on a play-off finish, with Japanese forward Yuki Ohashi finishing as Rovers' top scorer with nine strikes.

When you factor in that both Andi Weimann and Tyrhys Dolan, who each weighed in with seven apiece, have both since left, Blackburn's prolificy infront of goal will have to be improved on if they are to crack the second-tier's top-six this time around, and Soumano could be the man to help them do that.