MATT Jansen's love affair with Blackburn Rovers has finally come to an end after the club last night agreed to release him from his contract.

The 28-year-old striker, who joined Rovers from Crystal Palace in a £4.1 million deal six years ago, formally asked to leave during an amicable meeting with chairman John Williams and managing director Tom Finn yesterday.

And they will now put forward a proposal to the board that Jansen's contract be terminated when they meet for a scheduled board meeting on Tuesday next week.

Jansen has grown increasingly frustrated by his recent lack of first team opportunities and the situation came to a head when he went public with his feelings at the weekend.

A meeting was then arranged for yesterday where it was agreed that it would be best for all parties if Jansen was allowed to leave and attempt to resurrect his career elsewhere.

The news will come as a massive disappointment to all Rovers fans, who still retain a great deal of affection for a player who played a big part in getting the club promoted back to the Premiership in 2001.

Jansen scored 24 goals that season as Rovers finished second behind Fulham to secure automatic promotion back to the top-flight and he continued in a similar vein in the following campaign as the club finished 10th and lifted the Worthington Cup.

That led to an England call-up for the popular forward, but he then missed out on a place at the World Cup finals in 2002 when manager Sven Goran Eriksson decided to take an extra defender to Japan instead.

Tragedy then struck for Jansen when he suffered serious head injuries following a motorbike accident in the summer of 2002 whilst he was holidaying in Rome.

It took him months to recover from those injuries and, despite several comebacks since, he has never regained the form that made him one of the most feared strikers in the Premiership.

Nevertheless, manager Mark Hughes would still have liked to have kept Jansen until the end of the season, but he asked the club to rip up his contract after growing disillusioned at being a bit-part player.

Premiership rivals Everton and Bolton may now offer Jansen the chance to resurrect his career and there could be interest from Preston and Huddersfield, too, once he becomes a free agent next week.

Meanwhile, Matt Derbyshire has returned to Rovers following a loan spell at Plymouth Argyle.