Blues target Sammie Szmodics is reported to have held ‘showdown talks’ with Blackburn Rovers due to his ongoing frustrations regarding the stalled proposed move to Town.
TWTD revealed that the Blues and Rovers were in discussions regarding the 28-year-old more than a fortnight ago with negotiations ongoing since then, Town having lodged an initial bid of £6 million and then made further offers.
Towards the end of last week, the Blues increased the money on the table to £8 million plus add-ons totalling £2 million, which was believed to be enough for Rovers to accept, despite the Lancastrians initially having claimed to want an unrealistic £20 million.
However, the move has still not gone through and, according to TEAMtalk, the player and his agent held "heated” talks with officials from the Championship club on Tuesday evening in order to try and finally get the deal done.
Born in Colchester, Szmodics, a player we understand the Blues have eyed in the last couple of windows, came through the youth ranks with the U’s before breaking into their first team in 2013 prior to a spell on loan in non-league with Braintree.
A move to Bristol City, where Blues CEO Mark Ashton was then in charge, followed in 2019, prior to a switch to Peterborough, initially on loan, before he joined Blackburn in August 2022.
Last season, the forward was top scorer in the Championship with 27 goals, leading to his first international call-ups with the Republic of Ireland. He has now won four full caps.