£5k-a-week Blackburn Rovers man could be big loser of £1.5m transfer swoop | OneFootball

Blackburn Rovers are set to sign Moussa Baradji, and this may be bad news for John Buckley, who's been with them for 19 years but may have to move on.

Blackburn Rovers are set to sign Moussa Baradji from the Swiss club Yverdon Sport for £1.5 million, and this could mean the end of the road at Ewood Park for one of their longest-serving players.

Following the end of a season which saw them finish 7th in the table and come within two points of a place in the Championship play-offs, Blackburn are rebuilding with the intention of going one better next time around.

But while the signing of Baradji is a positive move from the club toward this rebuild, it's not good news for one Blackburn player in particular.

Baradji's arrival at Ewood Park is bad news for John Buckley

For Rovers midfielder John Buckley, the news of this impending arrival is particularly bad news.

Buckley signed with the Blackburn academy at six years old in 2006, but after 19 years with the club, the arrival of a player who plays in the same position as him might mark the end of his time at Ewood Park.

The arrival of another midfielder at Ewood Park is unlikely to improve his chances of regular football, and as such it may be considered that his best chance of securing more regular first-team football could lie away from the club he's been with for almost two full decades.

Buckley has fallen from favour at Ewood Park since signing his last contract extension

Buckley ended the 2024-25 season out of favour at Ewood Park, and writing about the Rovers players with "points to prove in pre-season", the Lancashire Telegraph commented that, "It's been widely expected that this summer may be the time for the Academy graduate to move on and for the umbilical cord to be cut."

It wasn't always this way. Buckley signed a five-year contract extension with the club in 2022, and at that time the midfielder commented that: "Everyone knows I’ve been here a very long time, but I love it here. I’m settled and I hope I can keep performing to help the club get back to the Premier League during my time here."

But since signing that new contract, things haven't been going according to plan for him.

Buckley has been slowly falling from favour at Ewood Park for some time now. He was loaned out to Sheffield Wednesday for the duration of the 2023-24 season, only to have to return in January because of a shoulder injury. Over the course of the last three seasons he's only made 55 League appearances for the club, compared to 42 in the 2021-22 season alone.

At 25 years old and with two years left on his contract, a fee would be payable for him, but Blackburn may be able to accept a relatively modest fee to let him go.

In this era of tight financial controls, losing the £5,000-a-week he's reported to be earning from their balance sheet would free up more money to invest elsewhere, while the player himself could benefit from more regular first-team football elsewhere.

It would surely be a huge wrench to leave Blackburn after such a long time with the club, but it may well be in the best interests of his career to do so.