Blackburn Rovers player may be heading for Ewood Park exit door in January | OneFootball

Pickering has been with Blackburn for five years, but Valerian Ismael has said that the club are "open" to him leaving in the January transfer window.

Blackburn Rovers are open to left-back Harry Pickering leaving the club in the January transfer window, as the defender's frustrations at a lack of game-time grow.

A 2-0 win against Millwall in their last Championship match before Christmas may have eased Rovers' fears of getting sucked into a fight against relegation a little, but it still seems that January will be a month during which the club will have to carry out some work on their first-team squad.

And a change of formation under head coach Valerien Ismael means that left-back Harry Pickering, who's made 141 appearances for Rovers since joining the club from Crewe Alexandra in 2021, could be leaving in the January transfer window.

Valerien Ismael opens up on potential Harry Pickering departure

The Lancashire Evening Telegraph has reported that Blackburn could be open to Pickering leaving in the new year, due to the fact he is not getting much game-time under French coach Ismael.

It is also stated that that Pickering has been a victim of the team changing from a 4-2-3-1 to a 3-5-2 formation, which has left the ex-Crewe man isolated from the likelihood of regular first-team minutes.

Quoting extensively from an interview that Ismael gave to BBC Radio Lancashire, the Rovers manager said: "With Picks, we know his situation and I think he's a victim of the system changing.

"He's not really a wing-back or a centre-back so it's been difficult for him to find a position.

"He's a victim of the system changing. It's just been a tactical change which was not ideal for him."

2025 has been an extremely tough year for Harry Pickering

2025 hasn't only been a difficult year for Harry Pickering in terms of the changes to Blackburn's formation that have frozen him out of the starting eleven at Ewood Park.

He also missed two months from the middle of January after sustaining a knee injury in a home match against Millwall. His start against the same opposition on the Saturday against the same opposition was his first at home in more than a year.

But having battled back to full fitness, it's been clear that Blackburn's change in formation hasn't suited the player. Pickering is an orthodox left-back, best suited to be part of a four-man defence, and not especially suited to being the sort of wing-back or centre-back that Valerien Ismael might want as part of his 3-5-2.

Despite Blackburn's tepid first half of the 2025-26 season, there have been few signs that the club are ready to get rid of Ismael, which might have been Pickering's best chance of getting back into contention for regular first-team football at Ewood Park, and at 26 years of age, the player is in what should be the prime years of his playing career. This is not a period during which he'll be wanting to warm the bench.

If Blackburn's formation doesn't fit Harry Pickering, then it could be for the best for all parties that the defender moves on. With four and half years of Championship experience under his belt, there should be no shortage of interest in a defender who is a perfectly capable player, but who is also simply no longer a suitable fit for the club.