Blackburn Rovers were once the champions of England in the 1990s, breaking the monopoly of Manchester United thanks to Jack Walker's generous backing.

But it hasn't always been happy times for Rovers, who have had relegations and promotions since then, and even spells in the third tier of English football.

Turbulent times indeed for the Lancashire club, but they're now a solidified Championship team but now need to make that next step back to the top flight - where they haven't been since 2012.

One thing that the club haven't been afraid to do is spend money, and they've spent a ton of it under different owners.

Even in the Championship the Venky's have given manager Tony Mowbray money to spend and some would say he may have wasted it, but that's subjective.

Let's take a look at Blackburn's 10 most expensive signings in their history and see what they are up to in 2021.

£5 million was a lot of money in 1994 and it was a record for any player in English football, but Chris Sutton proved to be worth every penny of it after signing from Norwich City.

The 'SAS' was born at Ewood Park that year as Sutton partnered with Alan Shearer to fire Rovers to the Premier League title, with Sutton scoring 15 times himself.

It wasn't all happy times for Sutton at Rovers though, experiencing injuries the following season which saw him go goalless, but then hit back-to-back seasons of double figures before his final three-goal campaign in 1998/99.

He then went on to play for Chelsea, Celtic, Aston Villa and Birmingham and is now regularly seen on BT Sport and radio stations as a pundit.

Bellamy had transferred hands a number of times for decent money before joining Rovers and his former Wales boss Mark Hughes from Newcastle United in 2005, for a fee of around £5 million.

The wing wizard spent just a year at Ewood Park but his impact was evident - he won the club's inaugural Player of the Year and assisted the team in reaching the top six of the Premier League.

It wasn't enough to keep him around for longer though, as Liverpool triggered a release clause in 2006 of £6 million to take him to Anfield, but with 13 goals scored in 27 games Bellamy was certainly value for money.

Bellamy is currently out in Belgium, where he coaches Anderlecht's under-21 side and has done since 2019.

Dailly had spent two years in the Premier League with Derby County before Rovers splashed out £5.35 million on the defender in 1998.

It proved to be an unsuccessful time for the Scotsman though in his first season, playing just 17 times as Rovers were relegated to the First Division.

Dailly did get more action at that level though, playing 43 of Blackburn's 46 games in 1999/2000, but he departed for West Ham United in 2001 after falling out of favour with Graeme Souness.

He went on to spent seven years with West Ham and ended up retiring after a brief spell at Southend in 2012 - following leaving football he started a new career as an athletics coach, completed a sports science degree and had pundited on Scottish football for Sky Sports.

After gaining Premier League experience with Birmingham City for two seasons, Dann made a deadline day move in August 2011 to Rovers for £6 million.

His first season unfortunately ended with Rovers being relegated to the Championship after an 11-year stay in the top flight, but he was a stalwart for the next two seasons in the second tier and was made captain in 2013 following the departure of Danny Murphy.

Dann eventually got a move back to the Premier League with Crystal Palace in 2014, and he has remained at Selhurst Park ever since, but his involvement in the last few years has been reduced due to injuries.

Another £6 million capture, Kalinic came into the fold at Ewood Park in 2009 after being a prolific scorer for Hajduk Split in his native Croatia.

Kalinic was never quite a force for Rovers, scoring just twice in 26 appearances in his first season, but his record the following season was slightly improved after netting five times in 18 games.

When Sam Allardyce was sacked though and replaced by Steve Kean, Kalinic fell out of favour and he was sold on to Dnipro in Ukraine in 2011.

Rovers fans wouldn't have predicted some of the clubs Kalinic would later end up at - after scoring goals in Ukraine he signed for Fiorentina, and has since played for AC Milan, Atletico Madrid and AS Roma and is now currently at Hellas Verona in Italy.

In what is probably one of the poorest transfers Rovers ever made, Grabbi arrived in the summer of 2001 following their promotion back to the Premier League for a fee of £6.75 million, having netted 20 goals for Ternana in Italy the season before.

Grabbi never settled in Lancashire and he scored just twice in 30 league appearances for the club, before he departed back to Italy in 2004.

Blackburn were somewhat saved thanks to signing Andy Cole the very same year as Grabbi, arriving a few months after him from Manchester United and that allowed Grabbi to go out on loan to Messina.

Nowadays, Grabbi coaches Juventus' under-15 side, and he may be responsible for any future gems that come through their academy.

After becoming a bit of a stalwart at Rangers and assisting them to three Scottish Premiership titles, Ferguson made the move south of the border to Blackburn in 2003 for a £7.5 million fee.

It was a largely unsuccessful time for the Scot though despite being named captain a year into his spell, missing a large part of his first season with a fractured kneecap.

Ferguson decided he wanted a move back to Rangers just 18 months into his Rovers contract, and he got his wish in January 2005.

Ferguson was appointed player-manager at Clyde in 2014 and retired a year later to focus on his work on the touchline - and since 2018 Ferguson has been the manager of Scottish Lowland League side Kelty Hearts.

Rovers have spent a lot of money on strikers over the years, and Davies is one of them that didn't return the fee that was paid for him - £7.5 million to Southampton in 1998 after he scored 12 goals in one season for the south coast club.

The target man failed to reproduce that form at Ewood Park, scoring just once in his one and only full season before securing a move back to Southampton a year later in an exchange deal of Egil Ostenstad.

Davies of course went on to be an icon for Bolton Wanderers and stayed there until 2013, where he joined Preston North End until he retired.

Nowadays you're likely to see Davies punditing - he has been on a few Rovers games for Sky Sports recently and he's yet to pick up another managerial job since leaving Southport in 2018.

Andy Cole was a marquee signing for Rovers just a few months after they regained their place in the Premier League in 2001, with the club paying around £8 million for his services to Man United.

Cole had become sparingly used since Ruud Van Nistelrooy's arrival at Old Trafford that year, but he made the most of his move to Rovers and got back in the goals again.

He scored 27 Premier League goals in 83 outings before hopping from club to club between 2004 and 2009 - Rovers never recouped any of that money they paid for him.

More recently Cole was appointed as a forward coach at Southend United under Sol Campbell's management, but left last summer when Campbell departed Roots Hall.

Rhodes and Cole were both signed for £8 million, but with the Rovers official website stating that Rhodes is the record transfer, who are we to argue?

Huddersfield Town reaped the rewards in League One of Rhodes' goals - he scored 73 times in 124 games after signing him for £350,000, and sold him on to Rovers in 2012 for massive profit.

Rhodes spent three-and-a-half seasons at Ewood Park, netting a ridiculous 83 goals in 159 league outings - better than a one in two record - but he was never able to fire them to the Premier League and six months before he eventually departed to Middlesbrough in February 2016, he revealed his disappointment as Rovers rejected a Boro bid.

But he finally got his move months later, although it was an unsuccessful time on Teesside and he's now at Sheffield Wednesday - truth be told Rhodes has never hit the heights of his Rovers days since leaving.