Ranking the 7 best Blackburn Rovers wingers in the 21st century - Damien Duff = 3rd | OneFootball

Highlights

Blackburn Rovers have had a rather up and down 21st century.

From European football to League One football, the last 23 years have been full of mixed emotions for Blackburn. The club’s current campaign has also been mixed, having won seven of their first 15 league games, drawing one and losing seven.

Over the years, some of Blackburn’s most notable players have appeared on the wing, chipping in with goals and assists when called upon. During Blackburn’s Premier League days, you could often see the likes of Morten Gamst Pedersen and David Bentley on the flanks.

Football League World has picked out seven of the best Rovers wingers from the 21st century, ranking them based on their time at Ewood Park.

7 Ben Marshall

Marshall signed in the summer of 2013 and went on to make 140 appearances in a Blackburn shirt. He operated mostly on the right-hand side, even slotting in at right back on many occasions. His best season for Rovers was undoubtedly the 2014/15 campaign where he grabbed 14 goal contributions in the Championship season.

6 Craig Conway

Conway made just shy of 200 appearances for Blackburn, mostly on the left flank. He assisted an impressive 41 goals as well as scoring 22 himself. His six seasons at the club were up and down as the side dropped into League One, but his performances for the club through some hard times will not be forgotten. Towards the end of his Blackburn stint though, he struggled with injury and became less of a regular stater.

5 Junior Hoilett

Progressing through the youth setup, Hoilett eventually made his Blackburn debut on the opening day of the 2009/10 season, his first of 92 appearances for the club. In his three senior Premier League campaigns for Rovers, he scored 14 goals and assisted nine. The 2011/12 Premier League season was when he really made a name for himself, as he grabbed 13 goal contributions from 34 games. FIFA even named Hoilett as a player to watch in 2012.

4 Ben Brereton Diaz

The top four is completely interchangable in truth, so Brereton Diaz sees himself in fourth place, purely because he spent a lot of time through the middle as well as on the wing. The Chile international spent five seasons with Rovers, but he really came alive in the 2021/22 campaign, scoring an astonishing 22 goals from 37 Championship appearances. His form continued into the following campaign, and in the summer he earned himself a move to Villareal.

3 Damien Duff

Despite joining Blackburn in 1996, Duff makes the list for his three years in the 21st century at the club. The Irishman played a big part in getting the club back into the Premier League in 2001, before winning the League Cup the following season. In total, his 200 plus appearances with Blackburn consisted of 35 goals and culminated in a move to Chelsea.

2 David Bentley

Bentley spent the majority of his Blackburn days on the right flank, delivering dangerous crosses on a regular basis, and scoring plenty of goals throughout his three-year stint. In the 2006/07 season, Bentley helped Blackburn qualify for European football and was voted as 'player of the year' by the Rovers faithful.

1 Morten Gamst Pedersen

The term 'legend' is often used far too frequently in football, but in the case of Blackburn's Norwegian star, it's perfectly reasonable. Pedersen wore the Blackburn shirt on 348 occasions in his nine-year spell and was famous for his wand of a left foot. He scored some phenomenal goals for Rovers and was a key player of theirs for many seasons, grabbing over 100 goal contributions in total.