With the January transfer window entering day 4, Rovers have announced that on-loan Nottingham Forest forward Ben Brereton has converted his stay at Ewood Park, into a permanent one, whilst fellow forward Danny Graham has exercised a clause in his contract which sees his Rovers career extended by an extra season.
The 19-year old, who originally joined on a season-long loan deal, has shown signs of promise during the limited game time that he has received, despite earning mixed reviews from several Rovers faithful. The now-former Forest forward has put pen-to-paper on a 3-and-a-half-year deal – until June 2022 – with the club, in a deal reported to be around £6-7m.
Despite seeing his club opportunities limited since his move up north, Brereton has been a key component in the England youth setup throughout his youthful career, having been a part of the under-19s side who won the 2017 European Championships, a tournament that saw Brereton finish joint top goalscorer after finishing the competition with 3 goals.
Rovers fans will now be hoping that Brereton, now with his long-term future secured, will be able to kick on and show the form that has seen him touted as a potential future Premier League player.
After finalising the move, Brereton expressed his delight to the club’s media team.
“I’m delighted to finally become a permanent Rover. We have a great team on the pitch, but they’re also a great bunch of lads off it, and I’m looking forward to kicking on and showing what I’m capable of. The taste of life at Rovers I’ve had so far, has been brilliant. The atmosphere in training is great and I like how the gaffer keeps everyone going by pushing them to the maximum. I know I’m a young lad with a lot to improve upon in my game, and the gaffer has been brilliant in helping me in that respect, he shows me that I have to work hard in training, but it’s not about me as an individual, it’s about the team and the rest of the lads.
“He, (Tony Mowbray), is brilliant at improving your game and telling you what you need to work on and I feel that I’m already getting better as a player under him, which is credit to him and his staff. Although I think I could have done better in certain games, I believe, overall, I’ve done quite well. I’ve come off the bench and got myself a couple of assists, including the penalty against QPR which ‘Dacky’, (Bradley Dack), converted to win us the game. I just need to get that first goal in order to kick on and hopefully get many more for the club.
“Every night I dream about getting my first goal for the club, but I need to keep pushing and continuing the hard work in order to try and achieve it. Once it, does happen – as it should have at Preston – people will be able to see what I can do. If you have the right mentality, spells like this will help improve you as a player. I’m not worried about it because I know what I’m capable of. It’s great to have someone as experienced as Danny (Graham), who has done it all because he helps me understand the standards that I should be getting to, in addition to helping me in terms of being a role model to work off. There’s fierce competition in this squad, but that’s mainly down to everyone working so hard in training, which is a good thing.”
With Brereton secured, his mentor Danny Graham also got in on the contract fun as he was able to exercise a clause in his existing contract, which saw his stay at Ewood Park extended by a further 12 months, until June 2020.
The 33-year old, who made a permanent switch to Rovers in June 2016, following a brief loan spell, has turned into a real fans’ favourite at Ewood Park with his work-rate, determination and eye for goal being the main attributes that have cause the Blue and White faithful to fall in love with the veteran forward.
Since joining the Blues, Graham, who has notched 46 goals and 20 assists in 131 appearances – which included a recent hattrick against Sheffield Wednesday during his 100th appearance – has seen his career revitalised under the stewardship of Tony Mowbray as he has displayed his full array of attributes, which include his body strength and his positional play, both of which are key to the forward’s role as a target man.
Although Graham didn’t have the international career during his youth that Brereton is currently enjoying, with the former only earning a solitary under-20s England cap in 2005, the hard-working forward has more than made up for it with a sound club career.
Soon after committing his future to the club, Graham explained, to the media team, how his recent success with the club and support from the stands has seen him hold an ever-increasing affinity with the Blue and White halves.
“It’s been a case of ‘when I’m going to sign’, not ‘if’ and I’ve been counting down the games before being able to have it done. I’m over the moon to have extended my stay at the club and to finally finalise it all and get it out of the way, is a great feeling. The gaffer told me, when he spoke to me about the contract, that it was down to me to work hard and keep putting in the good performances in order to be offered the new deal and I feel that I’ve done that, especially over the past 6 weeks or so because of my contribution to the team, whether that being through goals or holding up the ball in order to bring others into play.
“This club means a lot to me, especially after my frustrating time at Sunderland. To come here and be as well received by the fans as I was, is a brilliant feeling and I feel like I’ve done a good job over the past couple of years. I’ve got a good connection with everyone around the club, ranging from the staff to the supporters and I’m delighted to be able to continue my career in such a homely environment. My aim was to keep fit and healthy and thankfully I’ve done that and helped the team achieve success in the process.
“I can’t put my finger on why things went wrong at Sunderland, but when I came on loan here, I wanted to hit the ground running and I did that in my third game with a goal against Fulham and I haven’t looked back since. As a striker, you want to be greedy and score in all the games that you play, however I know that you’re going to miss chances and end up drawing blanks in some games, because that’s how it works as a forward, but the important thing is how you react from those situations.
“I think Arma, Ben and Dacky – (Adam Armstrong, Ben Brereton and Bradley Dack) – are all keeping me on my toes, because all of them are capable of putting in a performance that could knock me out of the side. I think with Ben’s addition, he just needs that first goal to give him that confidence booster, then I believe he’ll be right up there for us in terms of goals. Dacky’s importance to this team is self-explanatory. He’s been superb ever since he walked through the door because his numbers and his playstyle are both brilliant. Arma is another who has come into the side and found the back of the net, which, as a striker, is always worrying for you personally because the competition for places is so fierce, but the important thing is the team’s success.
“When the day comes where, I don’t feel right after or during games, I’ll be the first to hold my hands up and admit it, in order not to affect the team in a bad way, however I’m feeling fit, fresh and healthy and I’m just going to take each game and each year as they come and see where that takes me. In an ideal world, I’d like to finish my career here at Ewood, however I’d have to be playing at a good standard to do so.”
