Blackburn Rovers' wait for a summer signing breakthrough continues, though they are not the only Championship club yet to break their duck.
Only six signings have been announced so far across the division, including three loan deal that have been turned permanent. The three 'Citys' have been active with Jacob joining Norwich, Gustavo Puerto to Hull and Alfons Sampsted to Birmingham. The other three deals are free transfers; Hector Kyprianou to Watford plus Daniel Iversen and Jordan Thompson to Preston North End.
The summer transfer window doesn’t officially open until Sunday, June 1. It will close again on Tuesday, June 10 because of the Club World Cup and then re-open on Monday, June 16 until deadline day on Monday, September 1.
Valerien Ismael was adamant he wanted new faces through the door by the start of pre-season. That means it will be a busy June for Rovers if they're to meet expectations.
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Negotiations are on going to sign Modipo Sagnan, a key target to bolster their centre-back options. Much will depend on the final decisions of Danny Batth and Andi Weimann as to whether they have to recruit another this window.
Talks with the out-of-contract pair remain ongoing but, as reported by The LT this week, there is a growing belief they will decide to join Derby County and reunite with John Eustace. That would be a blow and surely add to Rudy Gestede's shopping list.
This time last year, there were nine deals confirmed in the Championship waiting to be officially processed when the window opened on June 14, and then there were only 21 more before the start of July. Rovers did not get their first player through the door until right at the end of the month with Makhtar Gueye signing on July 30.
Ninety per cent of all signings in the Championship were announced after July 1. In fact, 50 per cent of deals were done after August 1, nearly 40 per cent were done after the first game of the season on August 10 and 25 per cent in the last two days of the window, as per number crunching from Stoke-on-Trent Live.
Rovers' earliest business in recent seasons was, ironically, in the summer of 2023, where the start of the end began for Jon Dahl Tomasson. Niall Ennis penned a four-year deal on May 26 whilst Sondre Tronstad and Arnor Sigurdsson were confirmed before the end of June. They then had to wait until August to finish their business after issues in India became apparent.
Players remain on holiday and the Championship season has only just officially concluded after the play-off final. But now things will begin to gear up. Maybe not in terms of 'done deals' but negotiations, agent talks and speculation.
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