This article is part of Football League World’s ‘Opinion’ series, this content strand is where the author of the article issues their personal opinion on the topic at hand....

He may not have enjoyed the most prolific of starts to the season, but there can be no doubting the continued importance of Bradley Dack to Blackburn Rovers, as he approaches 100 appearances in all competitions for the Lancashire club.

While the attacking midfielder has found the net just twice at the start of the season – and only once in the league – the fact that Dack has started every single league game for Rovers this season shows just how highly he is valued by Blackburn manager Tony Mowbray, and the powers that be at the club.

Having top-scored for the club in his two full seasons at Ewood Park, there can be no doubt the part that Dack has played in getting the club back into the Championship before re-establishing themselves in the second tier of English football in the past couple of years, meaning it is little wonder how highly rated he is by just about everyone concerned with the club.

But for all the excitement and expectation that Dack brings those of a Blackburn persuasion, he is arguably one of the few players in the squad who every few months, induces a bout of nerves that no Rovers fan is able to escape.

That is because, Dack – with all the ability and profile that he has developed both on and off the pitch – has perhaps become the one current Blackburn player who seems to be linked with a move to the Premier League with the cycle of each transfer window, with West Ham and Crystal Palace among those to be credited with an interest in the 25-year-old earlier this summer.

But while Rovers have so far held firm in their resistance to any interest in Dack, it is hard not to escape the sense that that will be increasingly difficult for Blackburn to do this year when you look at the midfielder’s situation at the club.

The fact is, Dack’s current contract at Ewood Park is set to expire at the end of next season, meaning that this summer could be the last chance Rovers have to receive a fee for the attacking midfielder, something which could force them to even accept a cut-price offer for their key man on the basis of something being better than nothing.

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Of course, Blackburn will be desperate not to lose Dack at all, and certainly not on the cheap.

Thankfully for Blackburn however, there is still time to address that issue, and they may not need to look far for an idea of how best to do that.

Earlier on Monday, it was confirmed that Kalvin Phillips has signed a new five-year deal with Leeds United, keeping him at Elland Road until the summer of 2024, despite a flurry of Premier League interest in the midfielder over the summer.

Like Dack at Blackburn, Phillips is a key player at Leeds, and like Dack at Blackburn, Phillips’ contract at Leeds had been set to expire in the summer of 2021.

It seems, therefore, that Blackburn would be well advised to take the opportunity they have here to secure Dack’s future as soon as possible, in order to avoid a difficult summer next year, even if it means taking a similar, somewhat risky approach that Leeds have done with Phillips.

According to recent reports, Phillips was convinced to sign his new contract at Elland Road, after a get-out clause was agreed that will see him entitled to leave the club if they do not win promotion to the Premier League, and a top tier side comes in with the offer of a set fee for the midfielder.

That is something that Blackburn should potentially consider doing were it to help secure a new deal with Dack.

Not only would it guarantee Rovers a certain amount of funds to reinvest in a replacement for Dack were he to leave the club, but it would also give the man himself the motivation to play to a level that would convince a Premier League to part company with the money needed to secure his services.

Then, as it has done before, that may see Dack help take Rovers to a level where he would neither need to want to leave the club anyway, and the preemptive steps that the club could take here in securing his future, would start to look like very smart business indeed.