"More than capable" - Blackburn Rovers encouraged to pursue Bournemouth transfer deal | OneFootball

John Eustace's side are at the centre of the Championship transfer world at the moment.

This article is part of Football League World's 'Terrace Talk' series, which provides personal opinions from our FLW Fan Pundits regarding the latest breaking news, teams, players, managers, potential signings and more…

Blackburn Rovers are looking to add defensive reinforcements this summer, with one of them being former loanee James Hill.

The AFC Bournemouth centre-back spent the first half of the 2023/24 campaign at Ewood Park, before being recalled by the Cherries in January.

He is one of a number of options that Rovers are reportedly looking to add to their backline. They have also been linked with moves for Kyle McFadzean and Danny Batth, as well as Liam Cooper and Sean McLoughlin, as per journalist Alan Nixon.

Blackburn Rovers told to swoop for James Hill on loan if available

Nixon has linked the Lancashire side with interest in Hill, and Football League World'sBlackburn fan pundit, Toby Wilding, wants to see the 22-year-old return to Ewood Park.

"Hill is someone that I would really like back at Ewood Park next season, to be honest," Toby told FLW.

"He was excellent in the first half of last season before being recalled by Bournemouth. So I think it would be really good to get him back.

"There's still a need for some extra centre-back reinforcements, even if Kyle McFadzean doesn't return, because bringing in another one after that would give Eustace that option to switch between a back-three and a back-four, which he does seem to like to do.

"And, as I said, Hill was more than good enough last season, so surely he could do a more than capable job for Rovers.

"I think, as well, he had a few stints at right-back last season for Blackburn which would be important to because we don't have any first-team cover or competition for Callum Brittain in that role either, so he'd definitely be a very good signing to make.

"And I think, from the sounds of things, when he was recalled in January, there was a suggestion that he didn't really want to go back.

"He was supposedly happy at Blackburn and wanted to see the season out there. So I'd like to think that in that case there would be a good chance, if the interest became concrete, that all parties would be open to doing that deal again."

Blackburn Rovers must focus on strengthening defence after lacklustre 2023-24 season

The departures of some of the club's attacking talents, Sammie Szmodics and Sam Gallagher, are looking increasingly likely to depart from Ewood Park in the near future. Between them, they combined for 30 goals last season - albeit Szmodics racked up 27 of them.

It's going to be very hard to recoup that level of production at the top end of the pitch, but they seem to have their incoming options sorted in Makhtar Gueye and Yuki Ohashi, so their priority has to be to get their ducks in a row at the other end.

Eustace's options in this regard aren't the best. They aren't ladened with top defenders, but they should be able to add some with the money that they are expected to receive in the coming weeks.

Blackburn will be able to get better defenders than attackers for the budget that they will have, relatively.

The manager's sides tend to be ones that were built on this stability at the back; that's what allowed him to get Birmingham City into the play-off places before they bafflingly sacked him. Getting this side of the game right could be key to them moving up the table, if they are to lose the league's top scorer and other forward options.