Rudy Gestede defended Blackburn Rovers’ activity in the January transfer window and is hopeful the club will continue to invest in their squad more in the future.
Rovers have sold more than £30million worth of players in the last 18 months. Less than £5m of that money has been reinvested in the transfer fees of permanent signings.
With Venky’s still required to match any funding sent to Blackburn with the equivalent money into a bond, fans have been fearful over the health of the squad long-term. Especially with a number of players out of contract or returning to their parent club.
Gestede is hopeful that the club will increase their spending after the relaxation of the Indian government’s restrictions.
“The club has always spent some money in the transfer window,” Gestede told The Lancashire Telegraph.
“If we go further back, I can’t go into details but there were issues in India and there were restrictions on the money that the owners could spend in the country.
“That impacted the transfer fees. Now that restriction has gone but there is also money we have lost on the operational side which the owners are putting into every season.
“They need to be able to catch up on that. I am not going into the final details because that is not my position. Hopefully, going forward, we will be able to be a bit more creative and spend some money in the transfer window.”
Rovers failed to sign their first-choice striker target in January and were forced into four late signings at the end of the window. Emmanuel Dennis and Cauley Woodrow were signed but have barely featured due to injury and selection choices.
Gestede admitted Dennis’ arrival, which was the club’s biggest financial outlay on wages, was a gamble. The two deadline day signings were late pivots as their top target was unavailable.
“There are two types of investment, the transfer fee and the wage bill,” Gestede told The Lancashire Telegraph when asked to define the club’s ‘significant investment’.
“We spent some money on the fee for Augustus Kargbo and a significant amount of money on the wages for Emmanuel Dennis. He is a Premier League player, Cauley Woodrow is on a Premier League salary.
“We then signed three more players, Dion Sanderson, Yuri Ribeiro and Adam Forshaw. Altogether, it is a significant investment with transfer fee and wage bill.
“The January transfer window is very tricky and sometimes, there are risks you have to take. There is not a lot of players available, the ones that are performing are not available because teams don’t want to lose their best players.
“You have to take someone from the bench or not playing and assess the situation. We knew Emmanuel would provide something different with creativity, flair and we felt physically, he could adapt.
“Unfortunately, he got injured quite quickly, same for Kargbo. It’s a disappointment but nothing to do with the player, it’s bad luck with injury.
“We have had an injury crisis since December, muscle injuries and other problems. That has made an impact on the pitch.”
“We were prepared but nobody wants to let players go at the start of the month after Christmas. Teams need to assess their squads,” he continued.
“Most of the transfers come at the end. Our target was fixed for the striker. He was available before the transfer window. When it opened, he wasn’t available. We were told he’d be available later on because he was fixed on this target.
“We knew John Eustace wanted this player. But at the end of the window, he wasn’t available. We had to look at our B solution and our C solution and that is the reality of it. We felt Emmanuel and Cauley could bring quality into the group if they could stay fit.”
