The contracts kept on coming at Ewood Park over the international break, as Hayden Carter’s committal to Blackburn Rovers brought the season’s tally of extensions up to eleven for the campaign!
Another central defender graduating from Rovers’ top-class academy, Carter joins Scott Wharton in signing fresh terms until the summer of 2027, a day after his fellow defender. Carter, who is capable of operating, both as a centre-back and as a right-back where necessary has come on leaps and bounds under the guise of Jon Dahl Tomasson, this season with his contributions and development deservedly rewarded.
Hayden, now 23, has been at Rovers for over a decade after joining from Manchester City yet took to life in East Lancashire like a duck to water and became the next in a long line of defenders, to emerge from the academy conveyor belt and make their mark on the first-team.
After making his first-team debut for Rovers towards the end of the disrupted 2019-20 season, playing the final two games in July 2020, Carter came into 2020-21 looking to try and make his mark in the first-team, yet despite one substitute appearance in a 2-1 home win against Barnsley in November 2020, the defender spent the second-half of the season on loan at Jimmy Floyd Hasslebaink’s Burton Albion in League One. His spell in the third tier was lauded with plaudits from Brewers fans as he helped them to nine clean-sheets in the league, steering them towards League One survival and was voted as the runner-up in their Player of the Season awards, as he notched four goals in 24 games, despite only being there for half the campaign.
2021-22 saw Carter achieve more consistent Championship experience following his return, as ex-boss Tony Mowbray included the defender in nine games in the second tier, before he spent the second-half of last campaign back in League One, on loan at Portsmouth, where he again impressed under Danny and Nicky Cowley. Although Pompey were unable to maintain a push for the playoffs, Carter left his mark down in Hampshire, by winning the club’s Goal of the Season award for a long-range strike in a 3-2 home win over Oxford United – the only goal of his loan spell.
Since returning to East Lancashire and finding the club under new management, Carter has been well-managed by Jon Dahl Tomasson, but also accumulated more Championship appearances in this current campaign than his last three seasons in the Championship combined. Although he has contributed to Rovers’ fine runs in both cup competitions and the league, the development ceiling is still high for the 23-year-old.
After the ink dried on his contract, a beaming Carter sat down with RoversTV to discuss the extension of his stay at Ewood Park.
“It means a lot to me to extend my stay at Blackburn Rovers for another four years.
“This club means a lot to me. I’ve been here for nearly 10 years now and this is everything I’ve been working towards. I’ve been in the Academy, in the Under-21s and now in the first team and it’s a club that has helped me so much. I hope I can repay the club now.
“I’ve got into the first team this season, I’ve played consecutive games and that’s exactly what I want to be doing. I want to be playing for this club and helping the team.
“Playing a lot of games this season has been massive for me. I’ve stepped up from the loans in League One and playing against players who have just come down from the Premier League.
“There’s loads I can still add to my game. There are things I’m good at that I still have to develop and there are weaker areas that need a lot more development as well. I feel I’m in the right place to do that with the players and staff we have here.
“Looking forward, I want to give the fans what they deserve and help get this club back where it belongs.”
Congrats, Hayden!
