Blackburn Rovers will hope to make Steven Schumacher regret transfer deal: View | OneFootball

Lewis Baker has a lot to prove to his old boss at Ewood Park

Blackburn Rovers are aiming to improve this season under John Eustace after a turbulent 2023/24 Championship campaign.

Eustace took charge at Ewood Park just after the midway point of last season after Jon Dahl Tomasson departed by mutual consent, and led the club to safety in the second-tier as they eventually ended the season in 19th place.

He saw star man Sammie Szmodics leave to join Ipswich Town over the summer, but the Rovers chiefs allowed him to bolster his squad with the likes of Todd Cantwell, Andreas Weimann, Danny Batth and Makhtar Gueye all joining ahead of the new season.

One loan signing made by Eustace in his first summer in charge could prove to be key to Rovers' potential success this term, as Lewis Baker arrived for the season from Stoke City last month after being deemed surplus to requirements in the Potteries.

Baker has fallen out of favour at Stoke over the last 12 months since Steven Schumacher was appointed, and sought a move away for the campaign in order to get his career back on track, so he, Eustace and Rovers fans alike, will hope that he can prove to the former Plymouth boss that he made the wrong decision to allow him to leave.

Steven Schumacher never fully trusted Baker in his team

Baker had been on the periphery at Stoke for the last 18 months, after a stellar first year with the club in which he emerged as one of Alex Neil's key players and was made club captain in the summer of 2022.

He fell out of favour with Neil towards the end of the 2022/23 campaign, then suffered a knee injury last summer and did not appear until the start of December against Plymouth, which was his penultimate game in charge, before he was sacked and replaced by Schumacher.

Despite the club reportedly being open to offers for him in January, the 29-year-old forced his way into Schumacher's thinking for a period of the second-half of the season, and even netted goals against Rotherham United and Middlesbrough, but then started in just two of the final eight league games as Stoke avoided the drop.

Fresh reports that emerged at the beginning of the summer made it pretty clear that he did not have a future at the club, and despite bagging the winner off the bench in Stoke's opening day victory against Coventry, he was allowed to depart late on in the window as the Potters wrapped up a deal for Japanese midfielder Tatsuki Seko.

Baker does not have much of a future at the bet365 Stadium, it seems, with his contract there up next summer, but he will still want to win one over Schumacher and show him that he can still be a key asset to a Championship side with big aspirations through his performances under Eustace this season.

John Eustace's desire to sign Baker was telling

The main thing a footballer likely wants from their head-coach, no matter their age or experience, is the feeling of being wanted in their squad, and Baker will not have felt like that over the last few years at Stoke.

With that in mind, Rovers boss Eustace was seemingly very clear in his desire to bring him to Blackburn this summer, as revealed by Alan Nixon in July after he stated that the 44-year-old was a big fan of him as a player, and wanted to sign him if the funds could be raised, with Stoke apparently asking for £2.5m at that time.

That price was obviously not matched by Blackburn, but Eustace still got his man, and Baker has made it clear that the Rovers boss was a big reason why he joined the club.

"There were a few conversations between the clubs earlier in the summer, the Stoke gaffer explained that I might not be involved as much as I'd like. Then I had to find the right place for me to come and enjoy my football," Baker told the Lancashire Telegraph.

"It was going to be in bit parts and when this opportunity came up and to work with this gaffer, I jumped at it. There were conversations earlier in the window but it went quiet and then picked up in the last week of the window.

"It's a massive 12 months for me. I try not to look too far into the future because I want to improve by half a per cent every day.

"Whilst I'm here, I'll try and do everything to repay the gaffer for the faith he's shown in me."

At still only 29-years-old and with over 130 appearances in the Championship, as well as experience in the Eredivisie and the Bundesliga, Baker certainly has a lot to give a team like Blackburn that need more consistency and goals from across the team now that Szmodics has left.

He made his Rovers debut just a few days after his arrival, as he was substituted on late on in the East Lancashire derby against Burnley last time out, and he will hope to have earned a starting berth over the likes of Lewis Travis and Sondre Tronstad as Bristol City visit Ewood Park this weekend.