Ipswich Town, Bristol City will look back at genius £750k Blackburn Rovers deal with envy | OneFootball

Signing Bradley Dack proved to be a masterstroke by Blackburn Rovers

When looking back at the last decade for nostalgic EFL players, Blackburn fans would certainly throw Bradley Dack into the discussion, and he enjoyed plenty of success at Ewood Park.

A couple of unfortunate injuries held his career back somewhat, but there's no denying that a fully fit Dack was among the best players in the division for a number of years.

Dack certainly had a tumultuous time at the start of his career, bouncing around academies in the youth of his career, before catching his break when he was handed a scholarship at Gillingham.

It was in Kent where his career really took off, with Dack making a name for himself there, establishing himself as one of the leading creators in the third tier, although he was never able to help Gills over the line in their promotion push.

It was that kind of form which caught the eye of Blackburn after their relegation from the Championship, with Rovers beating off competition from Ipswich Town and Bristol City to land League One's hottest prospect.

Blackburn Rovers helped take Bradley Dack's game to the next level

The most unusual thing about Rovers signing Dack was probably the fee they signed him for.

Gillingham reportedly turned down a bid of £2m for Dack from Bristol City at the end of the January 2016 transfer window, so it was something of a surprise when Rovers landed him 18 months later, after yet another good season, for a cut-price £750,000 deal.

Such was the disparity between the two clubs that Blackburn were also a League One club then and able to spend the kind of fees Gills could only dream of, but his first season in Lancashire proved he was worth every single penny of that fee.

Dack spearheaded Rovers' push for an instant return to the Championship, and his 27 goal contributions certainly helped that quest, which was ultimately a successful one as they finished in the top two.

Probably the most unique thing about Dack was that he was able to score such a hefty number of goals despite not playing as an out-and-out front man, he was more of the typical number 10.

But he had the strikers instinct and just perfectly knew how to play his position under Tony Mowbray, who at that point was the perfect manager for Dack to play under.

Bristol City and Ipswich Town were watching to see how Bradley Dack fared in the Championship

It was one thing Dack performing in League One, but there was a huge question surrounding how he would fare in the Championship considering he'd never played at that level in his career.

He answered those doubters emphatically in his first Championship campaign though, racking up an impressive 22 goal contributions, including 15 goals, as he helped Rovers consolidate their place in the second tier.

Ipswich and Bristol City would certainly have been looking on with envy at that point, knowing they'd missed out on a player who had gone on to prove he was among the best in the Championship when isolating his attacking output.

Unfortunately for Dack and Rovers, the season after brought around the beginning of the end as far as his Ewood Park career was concerned, as despite picking up where he left off at the start of the 2019/20 campaign, his season was cut short with a cruciate ligament injury in December.

He battled back to return over a year later, before two months later he suffered a repeat of the injury, and when he came back he lacked the edge he had before the injuries.

An unsuccessful move to Sunderland followed, before Dack re-joined Gillingham to signal his career going full circle, and although his career is now firmly fizzling out, Ipswich and Bristol City will surely wonder how their fortunes would have differed had they signed Dack.