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.

Photo: Nurphoto

ArnieM added 20:50 - Jul 31 Cambrover14: Id suggest £6m + a further £2m add on for a 28yr old is really fair " top rate" .... for essentially one purple season.
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62WasBest added 21:18 - Jul 31 Seems a bit odd to me that we want to buy a player who we've looked at in the last couple windows. Was that with a view to being in the Premier League? If not, surely we should be looking at players that are young enough to be improved?
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BrettenhamBlue added 22:48 - Jul 31 8-10 million is a great deal for Blackburn Rovers. Really don't understand why they continue to drag this on. Can't be great for the player at all. If they continue to stall, we should move on to other targets. Enough is enough.
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Bluemike31 added 08:08 - Aug 1 I'm still to be convinced he's even worth more than the original 6 Million offered, one good season and his age don't suggest we should go daft on this, he's just been average the rest of his career. Is he really a step up on what we already have ?
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Bazza8564 added 08:52 - Aug 1 Word has it theres a 6m release clause in that new contract he signed... And as others have said, where are all the other clubs lining up to sign hm? Clearly the boy wants to come here, 8m is a ton of money for a championship club to reinvest, my money is on Mark Ashton!
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Linkboy13 added 09:04 - Aug 1 What is the point in keeping an unhappy player. Blackburn should cash in while his stock is high. This season he might only score 10 goals what would he be worth then.
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FrankMarshall added 09:06 - Aug 1 Blackburn have already got an incredible deal for him...unreal that they want to continue bargaining. Feel very sorry for Szmodics...if he does leave it'll leave a very bitter taste towards the club.
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petersongoal added 12:40 - Aug 1 Blackburn have a record of this kind of behaviour. I'm not surprised he wants to hear from them exactly what's going on. I'm all for playing hardball when it comes to getting the money you think is right for players, but at this point Blackburn are just playing games. I wouldn't be surprised if Ashton walks away, which will hopefully leave things unsettled in the Blackburn ranks and come January they'll be in the relegation places, which is nothing more than they deserve. As the old saying goes, play silly games, win silly prizes.

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BeattiesBackPocket added 16:09 - Aug 1 Blackburn promised this lad a new improved contract towards the end of last season then decided they couldn’t afford it more recently otherwise he’d have probably signed with them. So fact they’re changing the goalposts here doesn’t surprise me and I can see why he’s got the hump with it all.
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Cambsrover14 added 16:14 - Aug 1 Gallagher I'm not bothered about he don't score enough goals and I said 12-15m will get him weeks ago when this all came out either pay up or no deal. This is just like Joe Rothwell all over again and what's he done since moving? Nothing is the answer to that.
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Cambsrover14 added 16:15 - Aug 1 I said when this came out 12-15m and I can't see Rovers accepting any less and the deadline for a deal has gone.
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BeattiesBackPocket added 17:58 - Aug 1 Cambsrover14 only one person said he’s a town fan. However his family (dad and bro) drink over the local in Colchester. By all accounts he’s been mugged off by your hierarchy who promised him an improved deal for his goals last season then went back on it. If it wasn’t for him you’d be in league one right now. The deal was agreed not long back then they wanted more probably because Leeds started looking and thought they’d get a bidding war. Again screwing the lad over yet again.

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billlm added 18:13 - Aug 1 Rovers are so going down this year, brilliant, basket club,
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Linkboy13 added 19:26 - Aug 1 It's becoming a big worry that we are not being able to get the really big players through the door Philogene, Smozdics, Odobert, James etc. Maybe like many neutrals (not happy clappers) they haven't got the confidence we can't avoid the drop. McKenna even said after the Fortuna game we were no where near strong enough to compete in the Premier league. I thought Jacob Greaves looked a class act be it only a meaningless friendly.

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BeattiesBackPocket added 23:51 - Aug 1 Linkboy13 I honestly don’t know where you get your nonsense from tbh? Philiogene was about his agent and he went to villa which they had first dibs on so he’s off to play for a champions league club who would blame him for that ffs?? Smozdics has nothing to do with him atm it’s Blackburn wanting more than they agreed and Odobert is rumour atm and who the he’ll is James?? Honestly are you even keeping up with proper news on the club or just misleading headlines and rumours??

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Blue_Moses added 09:52 - Aug 2 Cambsrover, he's actually a Colchester fan and he hates us
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bobble added 12:18 - Aug 2 must be bed time..
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BerksBlue15 added 12:50 - Aug 2 Blackburn just signed two forwards (inc Andi Weimann who tried to cheat us out of points at PR with that handball goal last season) so presumably they're expecting Szmodics to leave. Would be happy to have him but for £6m I could take it or leave it - before this window that would make him our record signing ever... Also can't help but feel if we were still in the Championship we'd be offering half that sum. Let's see. With Delap and Hirst I'm happy to wait until January and get him for half the price after he's sulked in the reserves for a couple of months!

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