Blackburn Rovers transfer trick with Liverpool may be over after January deal: View | OneFootball

Blackburn Rovers have certainly made plenty of use of the loan market in recent transfer windows.

With the Ewood Park club often operating on a limited budget, there have been plenty of players who have been brought into the club on a temporary basis.

Many of those have come in the form of young individuals who top-flight clubs have been willing to loan out. That has come with the hope they can get some much-needed first-team experience under their belts to aid in their development.

Over the last few years, one club who Blackburn Rovers have done plenty of business with in this way, is Liverpool.

A productive loan collaboration

At some point in each of the last four seasons, Blackburn Rovers have signed a player on loan from Liverpool.

The first of those was Harvey Elliott, who enjoyed an outstanding spell at Ewood Park during the 2020-21 campaign, setting him up to subsequently become a regular feature back on Merseyside.

Then, the summer of 2021 saw Leighton Clarkson make the switch from Liverpool to Blackburn, in a deal that was ultimately cut short by January 2022 amid a lack of game time.

Even so, that link-up continued for last season, when another midfielder, Tyler Morton, spent the campaign on loan with Rovers, in an individual campaign that had both ups and downs.

This season, it wasn't until the final day of the winter window that Blackburn agreed a loan deal with Liverpool, when Billy Koumetio joined on a deal until the end of the campaign.

But given how things have gone for the centre back since he joined Rovers, there may be an argument that this move may harm any chances of another imminent transfer collaboration between these two.

Billy Koumetio has hardly had a chance at Blackburn

Since making his move to Ewood Park, the Frenchman has found game time particularly hard to come by.

To date, with just one game of the season remaining, Koumetio has made just a single appearance for Blackburn Rovers.

That came when he was introduced as a substitute in the second half of Rovers' FA Cup fifth round clash with Newcastle United back in February.

Despite being knocked out on penalties, few will argue it was one of the best performances Blackburn have produced since the appointment of John Eustace as head coach at the start of February.

While Koumetio had a few nervy moments after his introduction, the defender was an exciting addition to the game. He became more solid defensively while also looking as though he had the potential to make something happen further forward.

Indeed, many fans would express their excitement after the game, at the prospect of seeing more of the Liverpool loanee.

However, there have so far been no chances to do that, with Koumetio not featuring in any of the 11 Championship games since his debut against Newcastle.

After underwhelming loan spells with Austria Wien and French second-tier side Dunkerque, those at Liverpool may have been hoping that this could be the loan spell that allowed the centre back to finally kickstart his career.

But this lack of game time, despite the promise he did show on his one outing, means Koumetio has so far been unable to do that.

That in turn, could see Liverpool become more wary about sending loan players to Blackburn again in the future.

If those in charge at Anfield do not feel those individuals will get the opportunities they need while at the club, it would make little sense for them to sanction more of these moves going forward.

In that respect, it is also worth noting that other Liverpool prospects such as Fabio Carvalho, and Morton himself, have enjoyed more successful loan spells with another Championship side this season, in the form of Hull City.

Consequently, they may also feel that they do have more suitable options they could send their players to, with this particular move to Blackburn seemingly not working out for Koumetio.

With all that in mind, it may arguably not be a huge surprise if in the wake of this deal, it becomes tougher for those at Ewood Park to secure another loan deal for a player from Liverpool, when the transfer window is open again next season.