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Blackburn Rovers lost Tyrhys Dolan at the end of last season, with the attacker opting to leave the club on a free transfer, and Valerien Ismael understood the importance of replacing him with a similar player.
Dolan left to join Espanyol for free this summer, after being linked to several clubs across Europe, despite Blackburn offering him a contract extension to keep him at the club.
While there was disappointment that he left, Ismael knew he needed to be replaced immediately and had the perfect replacement in his head straight away.
However, the reason behind Ismael signing Ryoya Morishita from Legia Warsaw was, as the Blackburn Rovers manager admitted, a bit strange.
Valerien Ismael made Ryoya Morishita his Tyrhys Dolan replacement after a job interview at Legia Warsaw
Valerien Ismael has recently admitted, after Blackburn’s victory over Watford at the weekend, to the Lancashire Telegraph about how he identified Ryoya Morishita as Tyrhys Dolan’s replacement.
Ismael was in the running for the Legia Warsaw job last season and so assessed the squad ahead of this, identifying those players that would be key should he be employed.
While he was not given the job, he realised the talent that Ryoya Morishita has and wished to make him part of the Blackburn set-up at the earliest opportunity.
He said: “To be honest, last year I was talking with Legia for the head coach position at some point.
“So, I needed to assess the squad. I saw straight away that one of the players was able to do the job I asked. I got all their data.
“At some point, Morishita came on the table, and they said he might be available.
“I said that we have to wait because I know this player, and I know we will enjoy this player. I’m very pleased that at the end, you get the reward.
“He starts, he scores, and we see clearly why it was important to wait for him.”
Tyrhys Dolan’s impact at Espanyol in La Liga this season
While Morishita has demonstrated how important he may be to Blackburn this season, after lighting up the Rovers attack against Watford last weekend in the Championship and grabbing a goal in his first start, the player he replaced has not looked back either.
Tyrhys Dolan was an important player in Espanyol’s hard-fought victory over Mallorca in La Liga last night, which helped the club to third in the division.
Dolan set up the second Espanyol goal of the game, as he floated a cross into Roberto Fernandez, being pinpoint accurate for the striker to volley the ball home.
This was his second assist this season for Espanyol, as he has proved to have assumed a similar role to what Morishita now has at Blackburn Rovers.