Blackburn Rovers struck gold with £7m transfer but one thing was missing | OneFootball

Blackburn can look back fondly on the signing Ben Brereton Diaz, but they'll always wonder how he didn't help them get promoted

Since being relegated to the Championship over a decade ago, the going has been tough for Blackburn Rovers, and despite coming close on several occasions, they've never been able to return to the top-flight.

That's despite boasting some of the league's most prolific goalscorers in recent times, with Jordan Rhodes, Sammie Szmodics, Adam Armstrong and Ben Brereton Diaz all notching up 20+ goal seasons in the Championship.

In fact, despite that raft of goals, Rovers have never even been able to secure as much as a play-off berth, and they've stagnated in the Championship for quite a few years now.

They look good value to make another tilt at promotion this time around, but in the absence of a notable goalscorer that looks to be incredibly difficult.

The curious case of Brereton Diaz does, however, prove that goals don't always guarantee a lofty league position, so they won't be feeling too downbeat just yet.

Brereton Diaz delivered everything besides promotion at Ewood Park

Initially joining Rovers on loan, Blackburn had seen enough in January 2019 to make his move permanent and stumped up a whopping £7m to do, although looking back now, they'll argue that was a great investment.

Brereton Diaz as he's known now, actually arrived in East Lancashire as just 'Ben Brereton' before a call-up to the Chile national team in 2021 saw him take the unusual step to include both his father and his mother's surnames in his name.

When he adopted Diaz in his name, his growth hit exponential levels, as that was when his Rovers career really took off and he became a household name.

He rattled in 22 Championship goals in 2021/22 and followed it up with 14 the season after, although his goals could only help his side finish eighth and seventh respectively in those two seasons.

Those two seasons will certainly have left a bitter taste in the mouths of Rovers fans, who had to watch their side fall from heady heights in both campaigns, with both seasons serving as the closest they've come to a top-flight return yet.

It poses the question for Rovers fans, that if they have a 20+ goal a season forward and still can't get promoted, then what will it take for them?

Blackburn were dealt a harsh lesson with Brereton Diaz

Blackburn's main issue with Brereton Diaz was that his form only picked up when he has two years left on his contract, so it was a difficult balancing act, and they were forced to choose between keeping their prized asset or selling him.

The difficult decision for Rovers came in the fact that keeping him was their best chance at getting back to the Premier League, but they knew if they didn't, his market value would drop or if they sold him for the higher fee, they'd probably sacrificed a good chance at reaching the top-flight.

In the end, Rovers elected to keep him until the end of his contract and he left on a free transfer to Villarreal at the end of the 2022/23 season.

With hindsight, it's easy to look back and say Rovers made the wrong decision, and they should've sold him before the end of his contract, but they weren't to know that in two successive seasons they would capitulate towards the end of the season.

Ultimately, that decision blew up in their face, as Rovers got neither promotion nor profit out of Brereton Diaz, and he departed without leaving the lasting legacy they'd have hoped on the club.