Blackburn Rovers will be ecstatic at how £2.5m outlay in 2004 turned out | OneFootball

Norwegian winger Morten Gamst Pedersen spent nine hugely successful years at Blackburn following his £2.5M transfer from Tromso in 2004.

When Blackburn Rovers brought Norwegian winger Morten Gamst Pedersen to Ewood Park in 2004, they couldn't have expected the value-for-money they'd receive in return over the next nine years.

The left-sided player had racked up some impressive statistics for Tromso in his homeland between 2000 and 2004, and this tempted Rovers, then of the Premier League, to part with £2.5m to take the exciting 23-year-old talent from the Eliteserien to the English top-flight.

While Pedersen, who had made a brace-scoring international debut for Norway earlier in the year, took some time to adjust to his new surroundings and the demands of the English game, his form improved after Mark Hughes took over from Graeme Souness in the Blackburn dugout, with the Vadsø-born man eventually becoming a regular in the side in the latter part of the campaign.

All associated with Rovers will be glad they showed that patience in the early stages of Pedersen's time with the club, as he'd go on to make that initial price tag look like an absolute bargain.

Pedersen shone in the Premier League

Once settled, the Norwegian, who could also operate on the right and in a more central attacking role, began to show just why Rovers had opted to take him to Lancashire.

The skillful left-footer became one of the top-flight's most respected creative talents, well known for his mesmerizing dribbling skills and audacious long-range strikes for a Blackburn side who, while having their struggles along the way, regularly punched above their weight in an ever-increasingly affluent Premier League.

Pedersen's left-foot was the envy of many, able to find the right finish, be that power, precision, or placement. Opposing full-backs had a hard time stopping the wide man when he was in full flow, and he marked himself out as both one of Rovers and English football's top talents over a prolonged period of time.

Having worked under the likes of Souness, Hughes, Paul Ince and Sam Allardyce, Pedersen's final season at Ewood Park would be spent in the Championship after the club suffered relegation in a fractured 2012 that saw Steve Kean and Henning Berg, among others, unable to stop the rot.

The demotion did little to negatively impact Rovers supporters and football followers in general's opinion of the lively play-maker, however, and his overall contribution sees him fondly remembered by the Ewood Park faithful.

The Norwegian made nearly 350 appearances for Blackburn

That contribution includes 348 games in a blue and white shirt, scoring 47 goals and providing 62 assists in the process, before a now experienced Pedersen eventually departed Lancashire for Turkish side Karabükspor in 2013.

Struggling to settle at the now dissolved Mavi Ates, Pedersen returned to his native Norway, for whom he made 83 appearances for the national team over the years, a year later, joining Rosenborg in 2014 before heading back to his first club Tromsø two seasons later.

Spending three years at the Romssa Arena, the veteran left for the second time in 2019, since playing for lower league clubs Alta, Asane and Ranheim respectively.

Indeed, it was with the latter of those that Pedersen was still playing for just last season, at the grand old age of 42.

Still providing memorable moments with his masterful left foot. Still dictating games and scoring the occasional breathtaking strike, and still showing why the £2.5m Blackburn paid for him all those years ago proved a real masterstroke.