Blackburn Rovers have agreed a deal to sign Nottingham Forest Attacker Emmanuel Dennis, reports Fabrizio Romano.
Dennis has made seven appearances and scored one goal for Nigeria with his last cap for the Super Eagles coming in December of 2023.
Unfulfilled Potential
Dennis has shown glimpses of his true ability at points in his career, but he has been unable to find any consistency in recent seasons.
He came through the youth ranks at Zorya Lugansk in Ukraine where he scored six times in 26 games before moving to Belgium with Club Brugge.
His time in Belgium was fairly mixed as he enjoyed his most prolific campaign in his first season at the club before being sent on loan to FC Köln in January 2021. He scored 29 goals in 116 games for Club Brugge.
Dennis enjoyed what was undoubtedly the best season of his career to date in the 2021/22 season when he moved to Watford. The attacker scored 10 goals and made six assists in his first season with the Hornets despite the club getting relegated from the Premier League.
He was signed by newly promoted Nottingham Forest at the start of the next campaign but has struggled in the East Midlands, being sent out on loan twice since his arrival.
A Playoff Push
Blackburn Rovers are in the midst of a, slightly unexpected, playoff push after an excellent run of form from mid-November to mid-December where they won six consecutive games and conceded only one goal. But, they will need to improve the squad in order to maintain this position.
John Eustace’s side currently sit in fifth place in the Championship. However, given the incredibly competitive nature of the second tier, they are just five points ahead of 13th-placed Millwall.
Although the Blackburn defence is reasonably good, they are in need of improvements in front of goal. They average just 1.1 goals per match, which is only the 13th-best in the league, and they have missed a staggering 40 of their 61 big chances in the Championship this season.
Their top scorer this season, Andreas Weimann, has just six league goals and Yuki Ohashi is the only other Rovers player to have more than three league goals this season.
Recruiting players from foreign leagues, like Ohashi and Makhtar Gueye, has proved problematic as they have taken time to adapt to the energetic style of English football.
Writer’s View
Although Dennis is somewhat of an enigmatic player, he could be exactly what Blackburn need at this point in the season.
He adds experience, versatility and quality to Blackburn’s attack and, if he can find his best form in front of goal, could be the one to fix Blackburn’s attacking deficiencies.
John Eustace has proven himself to be a good coach and Championship level and he will hope that he can get the best out of Dennis and secure a long-awaited return to the Premier League for Blackburn.
