One Blackburn Rovers man is rising impressively to summer transfer challenge: View | OneFootball

One summer signing is yet to be given the chance to show what he can do at Ewood Park

In the vast majority of cases, Blackburn Rovers' summer signings have made encouraging starts to their time at Ewood Park.

Yuki Ohashi is the club's top scorer this season, with some excellent finishing earning him a first international call-up for Japan during the October international break.

Makhtar Gueye is also a popular figure around Ewood Park, for the trouble he can cause for defences in attack, and his somewhat maverick personality.

Andi Weimann has also scored some big goals, including a stunning strike in the draw at Burnley that already looks nailed on to win Blackburn's Goal of the Season award.

Todd Cantwell looks like he can become a regular starter when fully fit, while further down the pitch Danny Batth contributed significantly to the three clean sheets picked up this season.

The loanees are also impressing, with Liverpool left-back Owen Beck already a favourite, while calls are growing for Brighton's Amario Cozier-Duberry to start after his showings from the bench.

Even Lewis Baker has been able to show his useful experience and versatility for John Eustace's side at times.

However, there is still one Blackburn Rovers summer signing who has yet to get the chance to show what he can do for the club.

Balazs Toth being made to wait for his debut at Ewood Park

Back on the final day of the summer transfer window, the Lancashire club concluded their business with three new signings.

One of those was Balazs Toth, with the goalkeeper signing from Fehervar in his native Hungary for an undisclosed fee, with reports suggesting he would cost around £1million.

The 27-year-old put pen to paper on a three-year contract with Blackburn, securing his future at Ewood Park until the end of the 2026/27 season.

But having made that move, Toth has yet to make a first-team appearance for the club, having instead been on the bench for the five matches they have played since his arrival.

Now, it could be argued that while such a situation for the Hungarian at Blackburn may have initially been unexpected, it is now rather understandable.

Aynsley Pears is holding down his spot at Blackburn Rovers

From early on in this summer's transfer window, it had seemed as though the addition of a new goalkeeper was something of a priority at Ewood Park.

Both Aynsley Pears and Leo Wahlstedt endured difficult 2023/24 campaign in Lancashire, making some costly errors that did not help the club as they battled to avoid Championship relegation.

As a result, Wahlstedt was sold in early July, joining Danish side Aarhus after just a single season with Blackburn.

Consequently, Rovers did need a new keeper alongside Pears, to ensure they could be confident in both their solidity and depth between the posts.

It appeared as though they had got that with Toth, who arrived having won the Hungarian Golden Glove award during his final season with Fehervar in 2023/24.

The 27-year-old also has European pedigree with a number of outings in the Europa Conference League, as well as being named in Hungary's senior international squad on several occasions.

All of that, combined with the fee they spent on Toth and Pears' struggles last season, did suggest the Hungarian was in a strong position to claim the number one spot at Blackburn.

So far though, the form of Pears has prevented such a change from being made, with the incumbent number one making a strong case to keep that role so far.

In the five games since deadline day, Pears has done little, if anything, to give Eustace an excuse to drop him in place of Toth.

Instead, the 26-year-old has made some crucial contributions that have helped Blackburn to some important points in the past few weeks.

The 3-0 win at home to Bristol City saw Pears make some vital saves to prevent the visitors pulling a goal back before the win was secure, that could have triggered a fightback to change the result.

There was a similar story in the goalless draw at Preston, where with a man advantage for over half the game, Blackburn still needed some excellent saves from their goalkeeper to earn a point.

Most recently, the trip to Plymouth Argyle would end in disappointment for Rovers, who after equalising in the 87th minute, conceded deep into stoppage time to lose 2-1.

It should be noted though, that had it not been for a string of brilliant stops from Pears earlier in the game, the lackluster visitors wouldn't have had a chance to get back into the game anyway.

Beyond his saves, the goalkeeper's decision-making over when to come off or stay on his line has also been solid, and there have so far been no repeats of some of his errors from last season.

As a result, it certainly seems as though the pressure to keep his place in the side amid that competition from Toth, is starting to once again bring the best out of Pears.

With that in mind, it could be argued that the signing of the Hungarian is now paying off for Blackburn before he has even made his debut for the club.