“For the right fee” – Blackburn Rovers urged to secure Stoke City agreement before August 30th
This article is part of Football League World’s ‘Terrace Talk’ series, which provides personal opinions from our FLW Fan Pundits regarding the latest breaking news, teams, players, managers, potential signings and more…
FLW’s Blackburn Rovers fan pundit Toby Wilding believes that Lewis Baker would be a good addition to John Eustace’s side.
According to Alan Nixon, the midfielder is attracting interest from the Lancashire outfit this summer.
Baker made just 20 appearances for the Potters in the Championship last season, with injury preventing him from featuring at all until December (all stats from Fbref).
However, any deal involving Baker going to Ewood Park will reportedly need Blackburn to earn money through player sales.
This means any move may have to wait until a deal is agreed regarding Sammie Szmodics, who is being targeted by Ipswich Town.
Lewis Baker Blackburn transfer verdict
FLW’s Blackburn fan pundit Toby Wilding believes that Baker would strengthen the midfield options in John Eustace’s side.
While other areas of the team may need strengthening in terms of pure numbers, he has claimed that Baker could improve the standard of midfielders available to the manager.
“I’d like to see them push ahead with this,” Wilding told Football League World.
“Looking at the make-up of the squad at the minute, midfield does not really need to be a priority in terms of reinforcements.
“They’ve probably got more options there than in pretty much any other position, but there is also an argument that those options could still be improved on.
“I think the experience that he brings to the side that is perhaps lacking at the minute.
“And also that ability to get goals from midfield that Baker has shown in the past, I do think he would make the midfield stronger if he was to come in.
“So, I think this is a deal that I would quite like to see done.
“For the right fee, there’s nothing preventing Rovers from strengthening in other areas where they just simply need more numbers than they do in midfield at the minute.”
Blackburn’s 2024 summer business
Blackburn have made two signings so far this summer, bringing Aodhan Doherty and Jack Barrett into the fold.
Eustace will be hoping to build a team capable of competing further up the Championship table this season, having guided the team to a 19th place finish in the previous campaign.
Rovers may need to wait until a resolution is found with Szmodics before moving forward with any other potential deals.
They have until 30 August to finalise their plans for the window, before the market shuts for the remainder of the calendar year.
Baker signing could work for Blackburn
Baker’s time at Stoke hasn’t quite delivered in the way that the Potters’ supporters might have hoped.
However, he has still performed well at a Championship level during his time there, and Eustace clearly has an admiration for him.
Rovers should look to back the manager in the market once the Szmodics sale goes through, and this would be one way to do that.
There will be some concerns over the serious injury issues he’s suffered of late, especially given he’s now 29, but if they can find a deal at a reasonable price then it could improve the team for next season.
