Blackburn Rovers' 2007 loan player decision may have helped create a Premier League icon: View | OneFootball

The Ewood Park club may have had the chance to sign an alternative to the Premier League icon

The 2006/07 season was certainly one that could be considered memorable for Blackburn Rovers at the time.

A tenth-placed finish in the Premier League was enough to secure them a place in the UEFA Intertoto Cup, and with it another shot at qualification for full European competition.

That came after they had made it to the round of 32 in the UEFA Cup during the 2006/07 campaign, in which they had also produced an impressive run to the semi-finals of the FA Cup.

One key part of their success was Benni McCarthy, the summer 2006 signing from Porto finding the net a remarkable 24 times in all competitions during his debut campaign at Ewood Park.

However, the South African international was not the only striker signed by Blackburn during the 2006 summer transfer window to play a part during the subsequent campaign.

Blackburn Rovers signed Shabani Nonda in AS Roma loan agreement

In the final days of the 2006 summer market, Shabani Nonda was another to make the move to Lancashire, joining on a season-long loan from Italian giants AS Roma.

Admittedly, the DR Congo international did not have quite as prolific a debut campaign with Rovers as McCarthy did, but he still played a significant part for the club.

In total, Nonda scored eight goals in 36 appearances in all competitions for the club, including an eye-catching volley in a 2-1 win at home to Middlesbrough.

Through his efforts, and efforts to integrate himself to life in England, the attacker did make himself a rather popular figure among the Blackburn fanbase.

That though, left the decision makers at Ewood Park with a rather tough decision to make, come the summer of 2007.

Not signing Nonda again sent Blackburn Rovers down Roque Santa Cruz path

With the 2006/07 campaign coming to an end, Nonda's loan spell with the Lancashire club had of course, also expired.

At that point though, Rovers did have the opportunity to make that move permanent. In February 2007, Nonda confirmed he wanted a permanent move to Ewood Park, once his loan deal expired.

By the summer of 2007, the striker's agent had claimed that while other clubs were interested, it was Blackburn who had priority over a potential permanent signing.

It was suggested that the Lancashire club would have pay to Roma a fee of around £1.4million to complete such an agreement.

Ultimately though, no such deal would ever be agreed, and rather than return to Ewood Park, Nonda would join Turkish giants Galatasaray in August 2007.

By that point, Blackburn had gone a different way with their striker search, when in late July 2007, they announced the permanent signing of Roque Santa Cruz from Bayern Munich.

According to reports, Rovers paid the German giants a fee in the region of £3.5million to sign the Paraguay international, and the rest, as they say, is history.

Having completed his move to Ewood Park, Santa Cruz then enjoyed an incredible debut season in the Premier League that fans of the league still to this day look back on fondly.

During the 2007/08 campaign, the striker 23 goals in all competitions, which helped Blackburn to a seventh place finish in the top-flight of English football.

His tally included 19 goals in the league itself, with only Cristiano Ronaldo, Emmanuel Adebayor and Fernando Torres finding the net more in the league.

While the striker could never recreate that form in England again either for Rovers or Manchester City, his performances during his first season at Ewood Park have lived long in the memory.

However, had Blackburn taken up the option to sign Nonda permanently, it may be the case that Santa Cruz's remarkable might never have happened.

If they had paid the £1.4 million Roma were apparently demanding for the DR Congo international, paying another fee for Santa Cruz such as the one they did, may not have been feasible.

Indeed, with McCarthy, Jason Roberts and Matt Derbyshire all also on the books, another striker such as the Paraguayan may not have been seen as a necessity that summer.

With all that in mind, it seems that when it comes to one of the most fondly remembered individual Premier League campaigns of recent times, things could have been rather different, had Blackburn capitalised on an opportunity that was seemingly there for the taking.