Bristol City must be looking at Blackburn Rovers after huge fee claim: View | OneFootball

With 21 goals from 36 appearances this campaign, no one has scored more than Blackburn Rovers’ Sammie Szmodics over the course of the 23/24 season.

The 28-year-old has emerged as one of the most clinical strikers in the country over the past nine months, which has tempted more than one Premier League club to monitor his progress as the summer approaches.

The Sun have claimed that both Fulham and Brentford are keen on making a move for the former Colchester United man, with Rovers set to earn ‘huge fee’ if the striker does move away from Ewood Park in the off-season.

That must leave former side Bristol City scratching their heads, with the Robins failing to unlock the potential of the diminutive striker in his time at Ashton Gate, although he was barely given a chance to do so.

Sammie Szmodics career history, Bristol City, Colchester United, Peterborough United

After coming up through the ranks at Colchester, Szmodics would go on to net 35 times in over 100 appearances for the U’s, with back-to-back seasons of regular goalscoring in the fourth tier tempting Bristol City into making a move.

12 strikes in the 2017/18 League Two season was followed up by 14 the year after, before he finally got a try at Championship level, albeit for just three league games under then-manager Lee Johnson at Bristol City.

For whatever reason Szmodics’ face just didn’t fit at Ashton Gate, and the forward was left to rediscover his form in front of goal at Peterborough, who took him on loan for the rest of the season in January.

Four goals in ten games was enough to tempt Posh into making a reported £500,000 permanent move in the summer, with the frontman netting 15 times en route to promotion back to the second tier, and another chance to shine at Championship level.

City must have thought they had been proven right when he returned just six goals in the second tier, although Blackburn obviously saw enough promising signs to fork out a reported £1.8 million fee the following summer.

And from there Szmodics has gone from strength to strength, with his five goals in the previous campaign followed up with a bamboozling display in 23/24, as his sharpshooting keeps Rovers’ head above water in the second tier.

The leveller in the 1-1 draw against Millwall at the start of the month was his 20th in the league this season; three more than next-best Adam Armstrong and Morgan Whittaker, while last weekend’s goalless draw against Middlesbrough was the first time he hasn’t found the back of the net in his last five games.

To be performing at a rate of 4.7 above xG proves just how clinical the striker has been this season, with goals flying in from all angles, and rarely needing a second bite at the cherry to make his mark.

That couldn’t have been any further from the truth during his brief spell at Ashton Gate, where he failed to make the scoreboard, although Rovers’ patience with their marksman has seen them reap the rewards in the long run.

So is so often the case in the modern game, Szmodics was a striker who wasn’t given time to adapt to his new surroundings with City, and his football suffered as a result.

As soon as he was given a chance again by Darren Ferguson at London Road, the frontman flourished once again, and has continued to do so in the following years.

Sammie Szmodics transfer latest

At a little under two million pounds Szmodics was a gamble worth taking for the Ewood Park side, and he has proved to be worth every penny of that expenditure in the following two seasons.

The value of their key forward will all depend on which division they find themselves in next season, as they currently find themselves embroiled in a relegation battle at the bottom of the Championship.

Sitting just three points above the bottom three at time of writing, Rovers need to ensure they stay in the second tier if they are going to seriously cash in on their prized commodity in the summer, with a drop in division likely to shave millions off the price tag.

Szmodics will likely go some way to determining his own fate as the season continues, with his goals contributing to 41.1% of all of his side’s strikes in the league this season.

Former Sheffield Wednesday man Carlton Palmer believes the striker will easily be worth an eight-figure fee this summer, with Blackburn likely to be well-imbursed for their previous investment.

"Would he be good for Brentford? Would he be good for Luton? He's 28 years old, he's a very, very good player who can come off, hold the ball, and can go in behind," he told Football League World.

"At 28, he is under contract until the summer of 2026, and should Blackburn get a serious offer, which I would deem to be in the £15m- £20m mark for a player who's scoring those types of goals in the Championship, it would be difficult for Blackburn Rovers to turn that down."

Fire a few more in before the campaign comes to an end and not only will he have kept Rovers in the second tier, he will have earned himself a chance to shine on the biggest stage, leaving Bristol City to wonder where it all went wrong.