After a promising yet ultimately disappointing season, Blackburn Rovers have just missed out on the play-off places.
As well as another year in the Championship, the end of the 2021/22 campaign brings with it a mass exodus of players and coaching staff who are now out of contract with the Lancashire club, including club captain Darragh Lenihan, mainstays Ryan Nyambe and Joe Rothwell, and manager Tony Mowbray.
Despite these large, looming losses to the Rovers set-up, there’s still some more names that could do with being moved on from Ewood Park.
Here are two players the club should look to move in during the summer to make way for some new blood…
Daniel Butterworth
22-year old Mancunian Daniel Butterworth was originally part of Manchester United’s youth system, before he moved over to East Lancashire at 17 to join Blackburn Rovers’ U18 team. In his first season, Butterworth racked up 12 goals in 18 games for the U18s, before moving onto the U23s and Premier League 2 for four seasons, scoring 15 goals in 57 games.
Butterworth has made the occasional cameo in the first-team, playing in two EFL cup games and playing 14 minutes in the Championship across the 2018/19 season.
He was given a more prominent substitute role at the beginning of the 2021/22 campaign, racking up 11 appearances in the league, but mostly off the bench, and he failed to play a full 90 minutes for the first-team.
With his weak form and limited contribution to a high-flying Rovers side, Butterworth was sent out on loan to Fleetwood Town until the end of the 2021/22 season. During his time at Highbury Stadium, Butterworth appeared 12 times and netted a lone goal, his first senior goal.
But this doesn’t look enough to warrant a place in Rovers’ first-team next season, so perhaps he’s one the club should offload this summer.
Antonis Stergiakis
23-year old Greek goalkeeper Anotonis Stergiakis arrived at Ewood Park in 2020, after spending five years with Bulgarian side Slava Sofia.
Since arriving at Blackburn, Stergiakis has only played 17 times across two seasons in Premier League 2, and has yet to appear for the senior team as he is reserve keeper, behind first team shot-stopper Thomas Kaminski and substitute Aynsley Pears in the pecking order.
Stergiakis is close to ageing out of the U23s side and with no chance in sight of rising above Pears or Kaminski, Blackburn should now look to gather some return on the Greek shot-stopper.
