After much anticipation from the supporters, Rovers have finally announced confirmation of Sam Gallagher’s return to the club, with the loanee from the 2016-17 season agreeing to a 4-year deal at Ewood Park, for a fee of around £5m, following protracted negotiations with his former club, Southampton.
The addition to Rovers’ strikeforce sees a well-liked and hard-working player return to the club, after a couple of years of absence. Although Gallagher was part of the side that succumbed to Rovers’ first relegation to League One in 37 years at the time, the 6’4” striker made a long-lasting impression on the Rovers faithful, notching 12 goals in the 47 games, in all competitions, during his loan spell.
Since leaving Ewood Park, Gallagher returned to the Championship to play for Birmingham City for the duration of the 2017-18 campaign. Although the forward had proved his worth within the second tier of English football, the loan spell wasn’t as fruitful as his stay in Lancashire, with him only picking up 7 goals in the 34 games he participated in, in all competitions during a tumultuous season for Birmingham, which saw them go through 4 different managers.
With Rovers nicely stocked up front in terms of strikers, with Gallagher joining Danny Graham, Dominic Samuel, Ben Brereton, Joe Nuttall, Adam Armstrong and Danny Butterworth, it will be interesting to see how Tony Mowbray further operates in the transfer market, with just short of a month left to go, until the window slams shut on 8th August.
Now that the former England under-20 international has secured a permanent home, the Rovers fans will no doubt be hoping that he can replicate, and improve upon, his goal tally from his previous loan spell, whilst also using his pace and power to create, as well as finish!
