Blues target Sammie Szmodics came off the bench in the 65th minute, scored and picked up an assist as Blackburn Rovers beat Derby County 4-2 in their season opener at Ewood Park.

Before the game, manager John Eustace joked that he hoped the proposed deal which would see Szmodics join the Blues was off but without ruling out the switch happening before the window closes.

The 28-year-old hasn’t always trained with the first team or featured in a friendly while negotiations with Town have been ongoing and Eustace named him on the bench.

It took only 11 minutes after coming on for the Republic of Ireland forward to find the net, sweeping home from 12 yards.

Eight minutes later, Szmodics’s pass from the left found an unmarked Yuki Ohashi, who deftly beat the keeper.

Lewis Travis skippered Rovers having returned to Ewood Park at the end of the season following his loan at Town.

For the Rams, it was a disappointing evening for former Blues striker Kayden Jackson to make his debut for his new club.

Photo: Nurphoto

algarvefan added 22:14 - Aug 9 Of course he did, we knew he would. However currently he is not a Town player, there will be many reasons why he isn't, but we rightly will not be told why (I like the way Town do their business in private) and so we will, as ever, just have to wait and see what happens. I still hope he comes but won't lose any sleep over it if he doesn't, remember he only scored against a poor Derby side tonight, not Liverpool, Man City etc, he is unproven at that level.

2

blueboy1981 added 22:17 - Aug 9 Sammy is Lethal - he proved his worth again, he changed the Game for Blackburn, least of all a Goal and an Assist. Unlikely to become an Ipswich player now, and we will have missed out on an Asset to us. We’ll regret that - still 3 good years in Sammy !!
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del45 added 22:20 - Aug 9 Move on now , think the move is now over?
2

blueboy1981 added 22:23 - Aug 9 ……. Algarvefan !! - and what Goal Scorer will we have likely to Score against Liverpool ??? - we’ve hardly got a Fit Forward in any shape ot form ….. !!! We’re not looking Strong enough to say the least !!
4

dirtydingusmagee added 22:29 - Aug 9 Eusless will just hold out for more now ,
-2

missingsuffolk added 23:31 - Aug 9 Glad he's had this warm-up game. (tongue-in-cheek - I hope a deal will get done, on acceptable terms)
0

Edmundo added 23:55 - Aug 9 Let's just all calm down, be patient, and stop giving oxygen to the ridiculous circus this is becoming.
8

armchaircritic59 added 00:29 - Aug 10 And that Edmundo, is the most sensible post I've read on this whole sorry saga.
1

robmonkey007 added 06:20 - Aug 10 Move on…. He’s a decent championship player but we can do better. Don’t like the thought of Blackburn receiving that much money for him as I believe they’d be getting the much better end of the deal. MA has never disappointed in the transfer market so we’ll be patient….slowly slowly catchy monkey
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Blue_In_Boston added 06:43 - Aug 10 Taking inflation into account even at 12 million he is worth the gamble. 25 years ago we signed one Marcus Stewart for 3.5 million, that decision secured us promotion and his goals, despite no Premier League pedigree gave us our greatest season in the last 40 years.
2

MVBlue added 06:59 - Aug 10 2024 the summer of Szmodics
0

ArnieM added 07:18 - Aug 10 …… and the Hull winger we didn’t get, despite weeks of “ negotiations”! Funny how Stoke managers to sign a striker from Blackburn who we couldn’t strike a deal to get in weeks of “ negotiation”. Saints are signing players with no apparent problem. Why is every player we go in for turns into an apparent circus of negotiations, only for it to fall flat ??
0

churchmans added 07:49 - Aug 10 I have changed my thought again! Sign him up pay 10-12m he looked different gravy! When came on lol
1

blues1 added 08:33 - Aug 10 Arniem. Yes, stoke signed a player for a lot more than we were willing to pay for him. There's a difference between stoke buying him, for a fee Blackburn agreed to, and us trying to sign Szmodics, for a fee who Blackburn haven't agreed to. If we'd bid what theyre asking for hed have signed weeks ago. The reason stoke and Southampton are signing players easier is they are, in general signing cheaper players. You havent forgotten btw, that weve already signed 6 players. More than most other pl teams.

1

blues1 added 08:37 - Aug 10 Him playing last night, has no bearing on him moving or not. And btw, did no1 on here notice how muted his celebrations were when he scored? And same when he set up the 4th.
1

Billysherlockblue added 08:39 - Aug 10 Summerville went to west ham for 25 mill only. Just a comparison!
0

blueboy1981 added 08:57 - Aug 10 blues 1 - don’t overlook the Players we’ve moved on though ! - we’re short of Players and Prem’ Quality at th moment, especially up front.
0

blueboy1981 added 09:03 - Aug 10 Sammy completely changed the Game for Blackburn - should have been an Ipswich player well before now, and still isn’t. Arnie M is right, we do tend to make a trauma out of signing some players.
0

trncbluearmy added 09:05 - Aug 10 This is just not fair on the player. Blackburn are a nightmare to deal with that much is obvious the owners could not give a toss about the lad. ITFC have made an offer which they thought was acceptable then suddenly it's not. Completely unprofessional. What can ITFC do? Up the offer by £250,000 improve the payment terms marginally and say that's it 24 hours to decide or we move on. If that fails so be it, at least all parties can move on

0

OliveR16 added 09:22 - Aug 10 His good performance makes him harder to sign unfortunately. Time to move on. Frankly anyone would fancy their chances against that Derby defence though. Also Travis was back in as playing captain.
0

pauldart added 09:28 - Aug 10 I can see some our moaning about a player that isn't even in our squad , so why bother he might well turned out to be a Camara or a Pigott - our transfer business has been a credit to the process and would rather the players we have got within the squad. Some of fans already praparing themselves to say ` they we go told you so - I was right' if we start to fall/fail
0

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