Burnley
Blackburn Rovers
Coventry City
Derby County
Leeds United
Luton Town
Middlesbrough
Millwall
Norwich City
Portsmouth
Sheffield Wednesday
Sheffield United
QPR
The Blackburn Rovers squad has had a lot of change this summer under Valerien Ismael in his first pre-season with the club, as he looked to shape the team to his liking.
The Lancashire club saw several recognisable names leave Ewood Park this summer as they sanctioned the exit of Dominic Hyam to Wrexham, Callum Brittain’s move to Middlesbrough and the departure of Lewis Travis to Derby County.
While Blackburn Rovers may come to regret the decision to sell Joe Rankin-Costello to Charlton Athletic, Valerien Ismael has praised the board for one piece of business they did over the summer.
The Blackburn boss has admitted that it was his top target before the start of the summer transfer window, and he is delighted to have brought the player to the club.
- READ MORE: Blackburn Rovers will regret allowing ‘intelligent footballer’ to leave for Championship rivals
Ryoya Morishita was Blackburn Rovers’ ‘top target’
Valerien Ismael has given praise to the Blackburn Rovers board about their ability to sign Ryoya Morishita, as he was the ‘top target’ for the manager of the Lancashire club.
Speaking to the Lancashire Telegraph, he said: “I think he was our number one target, actually, at the beginning of the window.
“The board did a great job to get the deal done, and at the end, he’s here. He’s a player with a lot of positive energy, experience, high quality, a lot of energy, an international player.
“So, he will bring us, hopefully, all that we expected from him.
“He has no real position because his physical numbers are so high.
“He’s a very versatile attacking player. He sounds like he can play anywhere for you with that. I think he’s too small for a goalkeeper; we’d have some problems. Maybe centre-back and goalkeeper are the only two positions where I’m not sure he could do that.
“Otherwise, I think he can perform in all the other positions, and this is what we need.”
Why the Morishita deal took time for Blackburn Rovers
Valerien Ismael has given an insight into why the deal to sign Ryoya Morishita took time to complete, with the deal being confirmed shortly before the Norwich City match at the weekend.
The Japanese player made his debut in that game and impressed Ismael with his brief cameo against the Canaries; however, Rovers nearly missed out on acquiring the versatile attacker.
Speaking with the Lancashire Telegraph, Ismael said: “Due to the situation with Legia, the qualification games, and Legia made it clear at the beginning that they won’t give him up earlier in the window, which was a problem for us.
“We tried to assess the market to find another solution. But in my mind, it was always Morishita at the top of our list. I think that I was really pleased that we were patient.”