£15 million-rated Ben Brereton Diaz insists he plans to stay at Blackburn Rovers until the summer amid interest from Premier League clubs West Ham United, Leeds, Aston Villa and Wolves, speaking to talkSPORT.
Rovers, then, have a decision to make.
It is well-documented that Brereton-Diaz’s contract expires next summer. Per 90Min, the Stoke-born Chile international has indicated to the Championship play-off chasers that he will not be signing an extension either.
So do Blackburn sell in January; the winter window representing their final chance to make a sizeable profit on a player signed from Nottingham Forest? Or do they let Brereton Diaz run his contract down, in the hope that he can fire them back to the promised land of the Premier League before potentially leaving on a free transfer?
Premier League clubs want Blackburn Rovers talisman Ben Brereton Diaz
West Ham, Aston Villa, Crystal Palace and Wolves have sent scouts to watch the stylish attacker in action of late. Ditto Antonio Conte’s Tottenham Hotspur. Leeds and Everton, 90Min add, are also ‘long-time admirers’.
“I’ve just got to concentrate on playing for Rovers week-in, week-out; putting results in and scoring goals for the club,” Brereton-Diaz says when quizzed about the ongoing speculation.
“Hopefully, yeah (I’ll stay beyond January). I’ll be there until the end of the season. We’re going to the play-offs and we’re trying to get promoted. We’re all bought into that and the players are working hard every day. And this is what we want as a club, for the supporters to get back to the top.
“We’re going to put good work in until Christmas, have a little break and go again.”
The 23-year-old, a right-footed forward at his most effective when drifting in from the left, has scored nine times in 20 Championship games this season for a Blackburn side sitting just two points adrift of league leaders Burnley. He also found the target on 22 occasions in 2021/22, earning the club’s Player of the Year award.
“I think we have seen from Ben he has a great attitude. He’s a great kid. From day one, he’s done a brilliant job for the club,” Rovers coach Jon Dahl Tomasson tells the Lancashire Telegraph; insisting that any winter bids for Brereton-Diaz will ‘need a lot of zeros behind (it)’.
“He’s a lad who loves football and being around his team-mates every day; being at Rovers and doing well for Rovers. I’m not surprised (he wants to stay) because he’s a good boy.”
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