Rovers have today announced the purchase of sought-after Fleetwood Town left-back, Amari’i Bell on a two-and-a-half-year deal for an undisclosed fee, reported to have cost around £300,000.
23-year old Bell, who signed for Fleetwood in 2015 after impressing during a number of loan deals, becomes Rovers’ fourth signing of the window after Rovers agreed a permanent deal for Paul Downing, and loan deals for Adam Armstrong and Jack Payne, earlier on in the month.
The left-back, who can also be deployed across the backline and as a left-winger, had allegedly been attracting interest from the likes of Championship stalwarts Cardiff City, but Rovers were able to fight off the reported interest and capture Tony Mowbray’s long-time target.
Despite the move, seemingly, being agreed upon a couple of weeks ago, the deal has finally been finalised after it had dragged out, causing a lot of confusion amongst the Rovers fans. Although Bell comes in at just 23, the former Birmingham City trainee has a wealth of footballing experience, having played at both, non-league level, and football league level which sees his appearances rack up to 184 games, which is a good number of games in comparison to his age.
So far, this season, the left-back had played 26 games for Fleetwood Town, achieving 4 goals and 2 assists from the full-back position, which is not a bad record for a defensive player. With Bell’s best asset being his crossing, which he is widely known for in the lower divisions, his ability to pick out a ball will no doubt help Rovers score more goals in order to catch the top two and aid their promotion aims.
After signing his contract, Bell spoke to the clubs’ media to emphasise his happiness regarding the switch to Rovers; “I’m happy to have gotten the deal sorted, as it was up in the air for a while. Blackburn Rovers is a massive club and when I heard of their interest in me, I couldn’t say no as our ambitions are identical. I have played in this league for a while now and want to test myself at a higher level, which is where I intend to help the club get to. The team are in great form at the moment, with them being unbeaten, so I need to knuckle down and work hard to get myself into the team in order to help them.”
In addition to Bell, the media team also spoke with Tony Mowbray, who was delighted to finally capture the player he’d been tracking since the end of last season; “We’re delighted to have him, as I think he’s a fantastically talented individual who’s got good athletic attributes, but is also solid on the ball. There are aspects of his game which he can improve upon, which he knows, so hopefully we can help him as he fights for his place in the team with Derrick Williams. Derrick has been brilliant for us this season, yet this signing will create the competition needed to push both players to their maximum. I know for a fact that Amari’i had offers from clubs in the Championship, but he’s decided that his future would be better off here, which we’re delighted about.”
