Opinion: Why West Brom should make Blackburn Rovers star their top transfer target

Championship outfit West Bromwich Albion are monitoring Blackburn Rovers midfielder Joe Rothwell ahead of a potential summer move, according to a Patreon report from journalist Alan Nixon.

The 27-year-old looks set to depart Ewood Park this summer on the expiration of his current deal as things stand, a real blow for the Lancashire side who have seen him thrive in the middle of the park this term.

However, their loss could be Albion’s gain in the summer with Steve Bruce seemingly following through on his progress to take a deeper look into the free agent market this summer, something that may be needed considering they forked out on a £7 million deal for Daryl Dike back in January.

Still harbouring ambitions of getting back to the top tier though, they will need to recruit some of the best free agents available to them if they want to achieve that aim and one name that has now popped up is Rothwell, who was integral to Rovers’ promotion charge before their slight decline later in the campaign.

Recording three goals and ten assists in 41 league matches this term, his goalscoring contributions almost helped Tony Mowbray’s men to secure a top-ten finish and this is exactly the type of player Albion have been missing this season.

Scoring just 48 times in 45 league matches during the 2021-22 campaign, the Baggies have been severely lacking in quality in the final third for much of the season under both Valerien Ismael and successor Bruce and have needed others to step up to the plate with the likes of Jordan Hugill, Matt Phillips and Grady Diangana failing to produce the goods in front of goal.

Alex Mowatt was the man who would have been expected to do that after managing to register eight goals and seven assists in the