Blackburn Rovers manager Tony Mowbray has insisted that he is not worried about the prospect of Rovers having to sell Ben Brereton Diaz although he admitted that he hopes to keep hold of the forward.

Brereton Diaz has been in excellent form for Blackburn this season after returning to Ewood Park in the summer off the back of an impressive Copa America with Chile. The forward has managed to fire home 13 goals in his 17 Championship appearances so far this term, while he has also continued to score vital goals for Chile during their 2022 FIFA World Cup qualification campaign.

Rovers face the prospect of potentially losing Brereton Diaz in the near future with his contract set to expire at the end of the campaign, although Blackburn do have the option to extend his deal by a further year.

It is believed that Mowbray’s side remain in talks with the Chile international regarding a potential new contract that would commit his future to Ewood Park.

However, as with Adam Armstrong last season, Brereton Diaz’s form is inevitably going to attract the interest of other clubs and therefore Blackburn need to be prepared for other sides to be interested in signing him during the January transfer window.

 

 

Speaking to the Lancashire Telegraph, Mowbray insisted that he is not worried about the prospect of Blackburn having to sell Brereton Diaz in the winter window if interest emerges. While he also added though that he would ideally want to keep due to his goals keeping them up at the top end of the Championship table

He said: “I’m never worried about selling players.

“I’m not saying we’re in the market to sell Ben Brereton because we hope to keep him here, he helps us stay near the top end of this league and keeps scoring goals – but he’s still only a very young boy.”

The verdict

Mowbray and Blackburn are experienced in this sort of situation now ever since the Armstrong situation affected them as he entered the final stages of his deal at Ewood Park. Rovers managed to keep hold of him last term and his goals were absolutely vital to their cause in the Championship, but in the summer they allowed him to leave for Southampton and recouped a decent fee for him.

That is an approach that they could emulate here with Brereton Diaz. They would have to surely be very motivated to keep him in January because his form might make the difference for them in their hopes of securing a top-six finish. Therefore, they can not be seen to be selling in the winter window as that would not go down well with supporters who want to see some ambition.

However, should Blackburn not earn promotion they could activate their one-year option to keep Brereton Diaz and then sell him on in the summer for a profit. That seems to be the most sensible approach and perhaps Mowbray knows that is the plan and that is why he is relaxed about the situation as he was with Armstrong last term.