Steve Kean almost bagged Blackburn Rovers bargain with £4 million bid for star - he could’ve been Ewood Park great | OneFootball

Axel Witsel was close to joining Blackburn in 2011, now he looks to wind down his career playing for Athletico Madrid

In July 2011, Blackburn Rovers were struggling to replace many of the key fixtures of their 2010/11 Premier League squad.

Both Roque Santa Cruz and Mame Biram Diouf had returned to Manchester City and United respectively, after spending the last season on loan at Ewood Park. Similarly, American midfielder Jermaine Jones returned to German side Schalke 04.

Teenage centre-back Phil Jones had been sold to Manchester United too, and manager Steve Kean was struggling to find targets to replace the quartet which helped the side to a 15th-place finish in the top flight the season prior.

It wasn't looking great for Blackburn Rovers in the transfer market, and things were made worse when they were beaten by Benfica to the signing of promising Belgian midfielder, Axel Witsel.

Blackburn Rovers missed out on signing Axel Witsel, and things worsened from there

Steve Kean was dealt a tough hand by the Venky's in the 2011 summer transfer window, with The Mirror reporting that Blackburn had been stepping back from spending decent money for players.

This was evident in the failed approach of Belgian midfielder, Axel Witsel, who was reportedly keen to make the move to the Premier League, but the 22-year-old instead opted to sign for Primeira Liga runners-up Benfica due to a better financial package they offered to both himself and his club, Standard Liege.

Benfica ended up securing his services for £7 million, beating the Blackburn offer of £4 million. In the end, Rovers spent money to bring in the likes of Scott Dann, David Goodwille and Radoslav Petrovic instead.

28-year-old Yakubu was also signed from Everton, but his 17 goals (the joint-fourth most in the league) weren't enough to keep Blackburn up, as they placed 19th at the end of the season.

Blackburn are yet to play in the top flight since their relegation in 2012, and have even suffered relegation from the Championship since, too, in 2017.

Axel Witsel's career since joining Benfica

It's safe to say that Axel Witsel has enjoyed a different trajectory to that of Blackburn Rovers, with the now 36-year-old on the fringes at Athletico Madrid as his career winds down.

Witsel played just one season in Portugal before making the switch to Zenit St Petersburg in a transfer window which also saw the Russian side bring in Brazilian winger Hulk.

The then-23-year-old Belgian cost Zenit £32 million, further highlighting how exciting of a talent he was, and how frustrating it must have been for Blackburn Rovers fans to see him slip through their fingers as they finished 17th in their first season back in the Championship.

Five seasons passed at Zenit before he became the latest European star to move to the Chinese Super League, following the likes of Carlos Tevez, Oscar and former teammate Hulk. He spent two years there before moving back to Europe, this time to Germany, where he enjoyed his prime years at Borussia Dortmund before switching to Spanish giants Atletico Madrid in 2022.

This season, the 36-year-old's usage has dropped drastically and is often one of the few who fails to get off the bench in league action for Diego Simeone's side this season. If he were to call it a career soon, then he'd retire with over 130 Belgian caps, over 80 appearances in the Champions League and 12 pieces of silverware to his name.

Now, nobody knows whether Witsel would have reached those heights if a move to Blackburn materialised in 2011, or if Blackburn would have stayed up that season if they had brought him in.

In the end, Witsel joins the likes of Robert Lewandowski, Roy Keane and Zinedine Zidane in the list of European stars who came close to signing at Ewood Park.