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Blackburn Rovers are underway for the 2025/26 campaign, as they ran out 2-1 winners away to Accrington Stanley in their first pre-season friendly.
Yuki Ohashi and Makhtar Gueye, who both signed for the club last summer, scored the goals to ensure that Valerien Ismael’s side got off to a winning start after narrowly missing out on the play-offs in May.
However, bubbling under the surface at Ewood Park is a little bit of unrest. Callum Brittain is set to move to Middlesbrough and he refused to play on Saturday, while Rovers were without both Andreas Weimann and Danny Batth who have joined Derby County.
But one of the biggest absentees was Tyrhys Dolan, whose Blackburn contract expired at the end of June, and his future remains undecided.
Valerien Ismael speaks out on Tyrhys Dolan’s Blackburn Rovers exit
After his best season in a Rovers shirt, there were hopes that the winger was going to stick around in Lancashire and help push the team towards the top six in 2025/26.
However, he has now made his mind up and left the club. Bristol City have made an approach for Dolan, but there remains interest from Europe and for the first time since the end of last season, Ismael has spoken out on the 23-year-old.
The Blackburn boss said (via: Lancashire Evening Telegraph): “No, he’s made it clear.
“At least his agent, made it clear that he’s going somewhere else. But at the moment, I don’t think that he’s going anywhere (doesn’t have a club yet).”
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Valerien Ismael seems to suggest that Tyrhys Dolan was swayed by his agent
After making 210 appearances in all competitions for Rovers, Dolan finally called it quits this summer but Ismael’s comments seem to suggest that his decision was swayed by his agent.
The ex-Preston North End youth ace will want to play at as high a level as possible, and both Europe and the Premier League will be huge attractions for him, but these moves may not be possible.
Ismael will be hoping that he can put this situation behind him now and Dolan’s future clearly lies away from Blackburn. The club will pick up a settlement fee if he stays in England, if not, it will go to tribunal. But a move abroad would see the Championship outfit pick up significantly less money.