Blackburn Rovers and Norwich City must be wondering what if as Brighton star shines: View | OneFootball

Highlights

It is turning into some season for Brighton striker Deniz Undav out on loan with Bundesliga side VFB Stuttgart.

Back in the summer transfer window, the 27-year-old linked up with the German top-flight side on a temporary deal until the end of this season, in a move that has certainly paid off.

After another goal and assist for his loan club in a 3-0 win over Augsburg on Wednesday night, Undav has now scored ten goals and provided three assists in just 15 appearances in all competitions this season.

That has seen the striker help Stuttgart to third place in the current Bundesliga standings, and the Quarter Finals of the DFB Pokal.

As a result, it seems as though the decision to make that move back to his home country has certainly paid off for the German.

However, it is worth noting that while this may be his first loan move away from Brighton in 2023, it is not the first time in the year that he has been given the opportunity to make a temporary move away from the AMEX Stadium during this calendar year.

Championship clubs were linked with Undav back in January

Back in the 2023 January transfer window, Undav was a man in demand from the Championship, as clubs looked to secure a loan move for the striker.

It was reported that Blackburn Rovers had shown an interest in completing a deal for Undav, with Norwich City also thought to have been keen on the German.

In the end though no such deal would materialise in that window, with the 27-year-old instead remaining at Brighton for the second half of last season.

Indeed, the player himself would confirm after the window had closed that he turned down the chance to move elsewhere in January, in order to fight for his place in Roberto De Zerbi's side.

But with the Brighton man now thriving on loan with Stuttgart, you feel that both Blackburn and Norwich will be wondering what might have been had they managed to secure a deal for Undav, especially with how things went for them in the second half of that 2022/23 campaign.

Undav's impact at Stuttgart could have helped Blackburn and Norwich last season

For Blackburn, missing out on a centre forward in the January transfer window looked particularly costly last season.

With George Hirst being recalled from his loan move from Leicester City at the start of the year, and Sam Gallagher missing a number of games due to injury, that left Jon Dahl Tomasson's going into a number of games without a senior centre forward.

What followed was a string of games that the Ewood Park club either drew or lost while creating enough chances to pick up a more positive result, had they had a genuine centre forward on the pitch to put the ball in the back of the net.

Consequently, Blackburn ended the season seventh in the Championship table, level on points with sixth place Sunderland, missing out on a place in the play-offs on goal difference alone.

Norwich meanwhile, would end the season with a dismal run of just one win - somewhat ironically against Blackburn - in their last 11 league games, a run that saw them drop from sixth in the table, to 13th in the final standings, seven points adrift of the top six.

During that run, the Canaries also drew four games, and suffered six defeats, four of which ended up being by just a one-goal margin.

As a result, David Wagner's side were also not too far away in a number of games, from getting the goal they needed to pick up those extra few points, that might have helped them to break into the top six, and earned that shot at promotion to the Premier League.

So with Undav now thriving in Germany with Stuttgart with such an impact so quickly, it does seem as though had he made that loan move to one of these Championship clubs back in January, he could have been capable of providing those few extra goals either Blackburn or Norwich seemingly needed to break into the top six last season.

With all that in mind, it is therefore hard not to feel as though these two Championship clubs will be looking at what Undav is now doing out in Germany, as a rather big opportunity missed.