Tony Mowbray gives injury update on Blackburn Rovers player following pre-West Brom setback

Blackburn Rovers manager Tony Mowbray has revealed that defender Daniel Ayala withdrew himself from the team to face West Bromwich Albion on Monday night after pulling up with a calf injury in the warm-up.

The Spaniard has been a regular sufferer of injuries in the last few years, even before he arrived at Ewood Park in the summer of 2020, with those issues rearing their ugly head during the 2020-21 season as he featured in just 10 Championship matches.

Having missed spells of matches this season due to niggles, Ayala has been on the substitutes bench recently thanks to the form of other Blackburn defenders.

But after being set to replace the suspended Darragh Lenihan in the starting 11 against the Baggies, Ayala’s withdrawal was announced just 12 minutes before kick-off at The Hawthorns.

Mowbray has stated that the centre-back did not feel fit enough to feature against Steve Bruce’s side but isn’t sure about the severity of the problem and how long it will keep him out for.

“As for Daniel, he’s feeling something in his calf,” Mowbray said, per the club’s official website.

“We had it scanned and there wasn’t a lot of damage there, that’s why he was down on the teamsheet to play.

“Yet in the warm-up he felt like he couldn’t do it. If he tells me that he doesn’t feel fit enough to play then he can’t play.

“Daniel, I’ll sit and talk to him, but that’s why you have a squad and it was great to see [Joe] Rankin-Costello come in and played 75 really good minutes for us in Daniel’s absence.”

The Verdict

Ayala when he’s fully-fit is a major asset to Blackburn Rovers, but he hasn’t been fit enough on a long-term basis to show it.

And even though he is a very good Championship defender, the form of the likes of Scott Wharton and