Harry Pickering scenario should give Blackburn Rovers big advantage in transfer race: View | OneFootball

Speaking after his side's defeat at Southampton on Saturday, Blackburn Rovers head coach Jon Dahl Tomasson insisted his squad need help in the January transfer window.

Having missed out on a place in the Championship play-offs on goal difference alone on the final day of last season, the Ewood Park club have, at times, shown the potential to go one better this season.

However, a raft of injuries combined with a lack of depth within the first-team squad, have led to results such as the beating they took at Southampton at the weekend, that are already threatening to cost them in the battle for that coveted top six spot.

As a result, bringing in reinforcements in January could, as Tomasson suggests, be vital to their prospects for the season as a whole.

Now it seems as though Blackburn could already planning to heed that message from their head coach, as soon as the market opens.

Rovers eyeing Crewe transfer raid

According to recent reports from The Daily Mirror's Live Transfer Blog (15/12, 10:28am), Blackburn are now keen on a move to sign Crewe Alexandra centre back Connor O'Riordan, in the January transfer window.

Indeed, it is thought that the Championship club could be ready to make a move for the 20-year-old, as soon as the market opens again at the turn of the window.

The defender could apparently cost Blackburn somewhere in the region of £500,000 at the turn of the year, with around 18 months remaining on the defender's contract at Gresty Road.

Given the recent injuries to central defensive options such as Dom Hyam and Hayden Carter that Rovers have had to deal with, the addition of another option such as O'Riordan in that position, could certainly be useful.

There is also an argument to be made that recent history, could potentially be set to help Blackburn, as they look to secure this latest transfer agreement with Crewe.

Back in the 2021 January transfer window, Blackburn completed the signing of another defender from Crewe, in the form of left-back Harry Pickering.

As part of that deal, Pickering was loaned back to the Railwaymen for the second half of the 2020/21 season, in something that will surely have helped out the Gresty Road club.

Just a month prior to confirmation of his move to Ewood Park, the left-back had been handed the captain's armband at Crewe, following a suspension for Perry Ng.

Ng was another player who would be on the move from the club in the January window, as he joined one of Rovers' Championship rivals, in the form of Cardiff City.

With that move for Ng not including a loan back to Crewe for the second half of the 2020/21 campaign, the fact that Pickering's did, eased some of the pressure on the club, ensuring they only had to replace one key full-back in that window, rather than two.

Given Pickering also continued to captain the side during his loan stint with Crewe, such an agreement also provided the club with an important source of leadership, as they went onto secure a more than respectable 12th place finish in League One, in their first season after promotion.

Consequently, the fact that Blackburn and Crewe were able to come to an agreement over a loan deal for Pickering immediately after he signed for the Ewood Park club, that would then benefit the Railwaymen during that loan, means there ought to be a good relationship between the pair.

That in turn, could therefore make things easier in negotiations between the two clubs, if Blackburn are indeed to hold talks with Crewe over the potential signing of O'Riordan come January.

Indeed, given he had been on the books at Crewe's academy for some time by the point of Pickering's departure from the club, the chance to now play alongside him at Championship level, could also make the prospect of a move to Ewood Park an appealing one for O'Riordan himself.

With all that in mind, it therefore seems that as Tomasson hopes for reinforcements to aid his squad come January, in this case, Crewe may not be a bad place for Blackburn Rovers, as they aim to find that all important help.