Blackburn Rovers will forever thank L1 club for £1.8m Sammie Szmodics deal for one big reason | OneFootball

Blackburn may never make a transfer as important as Sammie Szmodics

Blackburn Rovers snagged a bigger bargain than they perhaps appreciated at the time when signing Sammie Szmodics.

The Republic of Ireland international joined Rovers from Peterborough United in 2022 for a base fee of £1.8million.

He had an average first season, but he would become potentially one of Blackburn’s most important-ever signings in his second campaign at Ewood Park.

But it somehow went from great to amazing for Blackburn, when they then sold him on for more than triple what they had paid for him two years prior.

Blackburn Rovers’ persistence paid off

Having spent £1.8m to acquire their man from Peterborough in 2022, there may have been some quietly dissatisfied when he returned just five goals and two assists in his first season with Blackburn.

Typically deployed just behind a striker, Szmodics had delivered double-figure goalscoring seasons in both League Two and League One in recent years, likely leading some to think the second tier was just one rung too high.

Any such notion would soon be shattered.

Blackburn stuck by their man, and he delivered a season — against all the odds — that would make him one of the most important men to grace Ewood Park.

Why Sammie Szmodics is one of Blackburn’s most important-ever signings

In his second season with Blackburn, as the club were struggling, Szmodics pulled off the season of his life.

In 44 Championship appearances, he notched an incredible 27 open-play goals, plus four assists, making him the league’s top scorer that year by some distance.

And he did it as part of a Rovers side that were a whisker away from being relegated.

As the 2023/24 season wrapped up, Blackburn were just three points ahead of Birmingham City, who dropped into the third tier.

Given that the next highest scorers for the club that year — Arnor Sigurdsson and Tyrhys Dolan — managed five goals each, it’s not difficult to conclude Szmodics’ goals singlehandedly kept Blackburn in the division.

It’s difficult to put a price on just how important that is. Speak to any number of clubs who have experienced that same drop; it’s not always as simple as bouncing straight back up and can instead rip a club to shreds.

With all that in mind, few players in Blackburn’s modern history can compete with the importance of Szmodics that year.

The benefit of Szmodics didn’t end there

Not only did Blackburn manage to retain their Championship place thanks to Szmodics’ work, they also made a handsome profit from him on top.

Having seen what he’d managed to do as part of a struggling second-tier side, recently promoted Ipswich Town decided he was worth a punt in the Premier League and splashed £9m to take him to Portman Road, where he notched multiple times in England’s top tier.

Whichever way you look at it, it’s difficult to conclude anything other than Szmodics’ signing being a masterstroke by Blackburn — and a strong example of why players deserve a second chance if their first season hasn’t quite hit the heights.