Blackburn Rovers urged to swerve transfer pursuit of Swansea City man - He wouldn't "fit in" | OneFootball

Our Blackburn Fan Pundit weighs up the potential negative impact of a Jerry Yates signing

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 are one of five sides that have been linked with Swansea City forward Jerry Yates.

The report, from Football Insider, confirmed that Rovers, Hull City and QPR are joined by two MLS sides in their interest.

The 28-year-old spent the season on loan with fellow Championship side Derby County, but, despite notching 10 goals in the struggling side, the Rams are not thought to be in the running.

We asked our Blackburn Fan Pundit, Simon, whether he believes Yates would be a good fit at Ewood Park.

Rovers urged to swerve Jerry Yates, Swansea City transfer

Speaking to Football League World, Simon expressed a desire to see Valerien Ismael trust his existing striking options such as Yuki Ohashi and Makhtar Gueye as opposed to dipping into the market to sign Yates.

In Simon's view, Yates "wouldn't fit" at Ewood Park.

“To be honest with you, I don't think it would be a good signing,” Simon told FLW.

“I think if you look at the performance by Yuki Ohashi after he came back from injury, obviously he missed a quarter of the season, still managed to get double figures of goals.

“Makhtar Gueye, another player who is in his first season English football, he adjusted. Harry Leonard's obviously another player coming back.

“To be honest, I'd like to see those three players be given more of a chance.

“I think Yuki Ohashi and Makhtar Gueye are going to have big seasons next season, personally, now they’ve adapted to English football.

“And if you look at Yuki Ohashi, he played until something like March 2024 in the Japanese league and then joined Rovers.

“So, to be honest with you, I think with a good break, it'd be nice to see those players and see what they can do.

“And I think with Jerry Yates, I think I just don't think he'd fit into that, and I don't think he'd get as much game time as he's hoping for.”

A Tyrhys Dolan replacement may be a better use of money for Blackburn Rovers

It certainly isn’t the case that Yates is a bad player; that much is clear from the number and quality of sides interested alone.

But Simon is right to query whether Yates would be the best use of funds at Ewood Park.

He has a contract with Swansea until the summer of 2026, with the option of an additional year. That, along with the fact that there are a handful of clubs already interested and he is coming off the back of a productive year, means he is unlikely to be cheap.

Yates managed just two more goal contributions than Ohashi across the season, despite the fact the latter had a fairly significant mid-season lay-off with an ankle injury.

With both players the same age, there are many similarities between the pair.

Alternatively, what Rovers don’t have many of is young, technical, creative wizards in the mould of Tyrhys Dolan.

Such players are expensive and, with Dolan out of contract and looking likely to depart, Blackburn could soon have a gap here.

Therefore, if Yates isn’t going to be a significant upgrade on the strikers Rovers already have, they’d be much better off saving the money he’d cost to invest in a Dolan replacement.