Blackburn Rovers: Bristol City win a reminder that key issue needs sorting at Ewood Park: View | OneFootball

Saturday's win over Bristol City gave Blackburn a key contract reminder

Blackburn Rovers continued their fine start to the 2024/25 Championship campaign on Saturday afternoon.

A 3-0 win at home to Bristol City at Ewood Park means John Eustace's side remain unbeaten in the league this season, with three wins and two draws.

That has put them third in the early standings and they will be looking to continue that form in order to avoid a repeat of last season's relegation battle.

After two stunning second-half strikes to make the win safe, it was surprisingly not summer signing Yuki Ohashi who grabbed most of the headlines from a Blackburn perspective.

Another player who certainly impressed was Tyrhys Dolan.

Blackburn are seeing the best of Tyrhys Dolan

Just as the club as a whole have enjoyed an excellent start to the campaign, it is fair to say that the attacker is doing the same from an individual perspective as well.

Ahead of the season, the 22-year-old had spoken about his desire to fill the goalscoring void left by the departing Sammie Szmodics for Blackburn.

Dolan got off the mark by scoring the opening goal in the 4-2 win over Derby County on matchday one.

Since then, he has yet to add to his tally, although he will feel he is unfortunate not to have at least one more, while against Bristol City other aspects of his game stood out.

Playing in the number ten role that he has been employed in so far this season, Dolan was impressive with his work rate, pressing from the front to keep the visiting defence under pressure.

That would help to prevent the visitors from getting forward and the attacker also produced one key moment of brilliance early in the second half.

Showing excellent tenacity to win possession just inside the Robins' half, Dolan drove forward, doing well to ride a heavy challenge before perfectly weighting a pass through to Ohashi.

From just inside the area, the Japanese attacker then curled in his first and Blackburn's second in the game to put the hosts well in control.

Dolan's contribution to that should not go unnoticed and he received a standing ovation from the Ewood Park crowd when substituted with 15 minutes to go.

That performance though, should also serve as a timely reminder of one key off-field issue that Blackburn surely need to solve in the not-too-distant future.

Tyrhys Dolan contract still needs sorting

Earlier this summer, Rovers triggered a 12-month option in Dolan's contract to prevent him from walking away from the club for next to nothing this summer.

It was then subsequently reported that the club and player had agreed he would remain at Ewood Park for this season, despite no new deal being close.

While that has certainly worked in Blackburn's favour so far this season, they do not have the buffer of another option to prevent him from departing for nothing more than compensation next summer.

Right now though, it feels as if that is something Rovers simply cannot afford to happen, which has to make Dolan the club's top priority when it comes to new contracts.

Other key players such as Ryan Hedges and Dom Hyam do have options in their contracts for the 2025/26 season, giving the club more time to address their futures.

Meanwhile, veteran figures Andreas Weimann, Danny Batth, and Kyle McFadzean, who are only on one-year deals until the summer, generally see their future dealt with later in the campaign.

Indeed, it makes sense for Blackburn to take that approach with them, since they will want an idea of the sort of part they might be able to play next season, closer to the time.

Arnor Sigurdsson is also out of contract this season, but despite his stunning winner off the bench against Oxford, he is yet to establish himself in the Blackburn XI this season.

In contrast to Dolan, who has started all five league games this season, the Iceland international has made just two Championship appearances in the current campaign, both as a substitute.

All of that does seem to reinforce the need for a new contract for Dolan to be secured at Ewood Park, sooner rather than later.

At 22 years old, he is a player who can both do a job for the club for many years to come and has the potential to bring in a sizable fee in the transfer window in the future.