TWTD understands that Blackburn Rovers midfielder Keith Andrews is at Town this afternoon to undergo a medical with his signing on a six-month loan deal likely to be confirmed later today. The Blues were hoping to land the 30-year-old Republic of Ireland international last week but Rovers are understood to have been the club who boss Paul Jewell said weren’t answering their phones.
Speaking yesterday, Jewell said he was confident that he would complete two deals before the end of the week, the second believed to be a central defender, possibly Liverpool’s Daniel Ayala, who is also a target of Hull City and Swansea.
It’s likely that Blackburn’s willingness to loan Andrews was linked to the completion of their deal to sign 22-year-old FK Partizan midfielder Radosav Petrovic, a switch which was announced earlier this afternoon.
Defensive midfielder Andrews began his career with Wolves, moving on loan to Oxford United, Stoke and Walsall before making a permanent switch to Hull City in 2005 when his contract at Molineux ran out.
After a just over a year with the Tigers, the Dubliner moved on to the MK Dons where he made his name playing under Paul Ince, the former England international taking him into the Premier League during his short spell in charge at Ewood Park for £1.3 million in the summer of 2008. The first of the 6ft tall midfielder’s 20 Irish caps - plus two goals - followed soon after.
Last season Andrews made only three starts and three sub appearances for Rovers and his exit this summer has been on the cards for some while, despite having a contract which takes him up to 2013. Leeds and Nottingham Forest were amongst the other clubs interested.
Earlier this week, a tabloid revealed that the details of Andrews’s Blackburn contract and those of some of his colleagues were outlined in a brochure the club was passing to agents.
According to the document, the midfielder is on £21,000-a-week, of which the Blues are likely to be paying only a proportion, plus an additional £2,000 for every Blackburn game he plays.
Andrews’s Rovers wage was due to increase with every five Premier League games he plays and he is due a further annual payment of £26,667.
His former club the MK Dons will receive 10% of any profit made on the £1.3 million Rovers paid for him if they were to sell him.
Andrews is likely to make his Town debut in Saturday's home game against his old club Hull City.