Where are they now? Blackburn’s young guns; featuring Jamie Maclaren

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We catch up with some of the youngsters to leave Blackburn Rovers in recent years.

Former Blackburn Rovers youngster Jamie Maclaren has been setting the A-League alight with his goalscoring exploits for Brisbane Roar.

The Australian-born forward arrived at Ewood Park in 2009 as a 16-year-old, but failed to break into the Rovers starting-eleven before leaving for Perth Glory four years later. Maclaren looks set to leave Brisbane at the end of the season despite scoring 11 goals in 19 appearances.

Christopher Dilo and Osayamen Osawe are also showing their talents outside of English football.

Dilo is back in the French League following a three stint at Rovers which ended with a move to St Mirren in 2013. The goalkeeper, 23, has enjoyed a recent run in the first-team for Ligue 2 side FC Sochaux.

Osawe has gone from Southport to Kaiserslautern in his post-Blackburn career. He has been a regular in the Bundesliga 2 side’s starting-eleven during this campaign, recently scoring in their 3-0 win over SV Sandhausen.

Raheem Hanley and Simon Eastwood are among the ex-Rovers academy prospects to be playing their football in League One. Hanley played 24 minutes of league football for Northampton Town following his summer move from Swansea City, while Eastwood has been ever-present for Michael Appleton’s Oxford United.

Josh Morris, Jack O’Connell and Matthew Urwin are currently fighting it out at the top end of League One. Morris has been in fine form for Scunthorpe United, netting 18 times in 32 appearances for the automatic promotion contenders.

O’Connell swapped Brentford for Sheffield United in the summer, and he has been rewarded with regular first team football for the table topping side. Meanwhile, Urwin is yet to make his debut for Fleetwood Town after arriving from Fylde in July.

Meanwhile, Anthony O’Connor had stints with Plymouth Argyle and Burton Albion before moving to the Scottish Premiership with Aberdeen in the summer. He is now part of Derek McInnes’ 2^nd place side.