He went under the knife recently and now he is under a lot of pressure to either declare his future to Blackburn or to hand in a transfer request.
The rumours that Roque Santa Cruz is about to leave Rovers have been nearly as constant as those declaring that Ronaldo is on verge of packing his bags and actually walking to Madrid. Today’s reports link him with a possible move to Liverpool and that truly would be the move of his career, but would he be good enough to cut it in the Champions League and would Blackburn be better off without him?
Having been on the sidelines with tendonitis since March the Paraguay international has not seen much action recently and this has shown in Blackburn’s performance. Rovers’ have lost three of their last five and scored only three times, conceding 11.
Now that Santa Cruz will be out for most of the season, Blackburn boss Sam Allardyce is going to have to re-evaluate his attacking options again. Though these are somewhat hard to come by at the moment with Matt Derbyshire and Paul Gallagher out on loan and Jason Robert and El-Hadj Diouf both injured Big Sam is short of strikers.
If Rovers’ were to sell, it may well prove to be a smart move. Sitting in 17th and just three points outside the relegation zone the Lancashire side may very well go down, if this is the case then many of their top names will probably leave and money will be essential.
Having already rejected a £20m offer from Man City earlier in the season the asking price for the striker will have to be around this mark and this would mean that Rovers’ could look at bringing in possibly two more strikers as centre back Christopher Samba has been stepping in to perform attacking duties recently.
They could also do with bringing in some pace on the wings with a lot of pressure on Morten Gamst Pedersen at the moment although this may go against the gaffer’s style of football.
For Liverpool the move would be ideal. Santa Cruz’s record of 23 goals from 57 appearances for Blackburn is very impressive and a move to play with higher quality players would only increase his goal scoring prowess. True he may not be quite the same standard as Fernando Torres but they would make an effective duo that many teams would not want to face. With Steven Gerrard in support it may very well provide that edge that Liverpool have been lacking at some points this season and provide that illusive trophy should they fail to win the league again this year.
The major decision rests with Blackburn owners, the Walker family, who must decide how much they want to hang on to their star striker and whether It would be better for the club as a whole if he left. Despite being contracted to Ewood Park till 2011 the lure of Champions League football from Liverpool or the Europa League from Man City may prove too strong and the striker has already hinted at his desire to leave.
So the season isn’t even over yet and the transfer rumours are already gathering pace, this one could see a top notch striker going to the most successful team in the country. Let’s just hope they don’t sell this one off again 4 months later for £5m less.
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