Blackburn Rovers have agreed a deal for Joe Rankin-Costello to join newly-promoted Charlton Athletic, The Lancashire Telegraph understands.
The Rovers Academy graduate has been on the periphery of the squad under Valerien Ismael. Youngster Kristi Montgomery was preferred to Rankin-Costello in the matchday squad at the end of last season.
The Valley is his destination, as first reported by Alan Nixon, with Charlton keen to add more players with Championship experience to their ranks.
I broke this news about Joe joining us last night so I'm glad to see the news outlets are running with it now. In the words of fabrizio romano here we go!
I like the sound of the signing of JRC without knowing loads about the player, because I love a utility player who can do multiple roles. Sounds like he gives us cover at both WBs aswell as some cover in the middle. Injury issues don't sound anywhere near as severe as Burke's and regardless, I really don't think we're gonna be signing anymore Aneke's while Dr.Will is around. Maybe he's screaming the house down and Nathan & Phil are ignoring him and signing players who can't manage a season, but that doesn't seem to line up with the joint up thinking of departments we seem to be trying to execute. Feel this really enables us to look at the end end of the pitch for the rest of the window
Sounds like a done deal to me now, strongest team I can remember for a long time and nearly 2 months to top up the squad with some quality.
Yep agreed about 90% there , a couple more to bulk it out a bit. A pacey striker / winger i think is needed and RWB minimum, possibly another CM
Richard Cawley said on the podcast last week that we still wanted a centre mid and an attacking winger/striker so I’d say you’re on the money there but Costello will come in as the starting rwb id assume if we’re spending 750k but i think we need another wing back that could play either side as competition for Edward’s and JRC.
So JRC as the starting RWB , would still want an LWB to compete with Edwards (I know Bell could fill in there but I'm not overly comfortable with that) , couple of CMs (would expect one is the PL loan mentioned yesterday) and then a striker.
Take it with a pinch of salt but been told JRC wanted to leave Blackburn as was frustrated at being played out of position along the back and wanted to play his preferred position, CM
Think we will get a CAM and another striker and that’ll be it. And those two will be where the major money is spent.
Why do people think we will sign another CAM when we already have 2? We only have 3 players for the other 2 CM positions and 2 of them - Docherty & Anderson - are not good enough to be anything but back up.
Think we will get a CAM and another striker and that’ll be it. And those two will be where the major money is spent.
Why do people think we will sign another CAM when we already have 2? We only have 3 players for the other 2 CM positions and 2 of them - Docherty & Anderson - are not good enough to be anything but back up.
We also had two goalkeepers but signed a better one.
Sounds like a done deal to me now, strongest team I can remember for a long time and nearly 2 months to top up the squad with some quality.
Yep agreed about 90% there , a couple more to bulk it out a bit. A pacey striker / winger i think is needed and RWB minimum, possibly another CM
I think this will cover the CM and RWB roles, NJ prefers a smaller squad with utility players instead of 2 for every single position.
As it stands: GK: Kaminski, Mannion AMB RWB: Ramsay, Asiimwe, Rankin-Costello RCB: Burke, Ramsay, A.Mitchell CB: Jones, Z.Mitchell LCB: Gillesphey, Bell LWB: Edwards, Bell DM: Coventry, Taylor CM: Docherty, Anderson, Rankin-Costello AM: Carey, Berry ST: Olaofe, Campbell, Kanu ST: Godden, Leaburn, Ahadme
Expect to depart Yet to sign
Looking at that, you'd want another defensive minded midfielder in, and probably a winger who can also play CAM. A wing-back that can cover both sides would really nail the squad depth too, and if I'm greedy I'd want another striker.
3 signings after Rankin-Costello, 4 at a push, with 4 or 5 to depart would make for a great summer.
I know as football fans we always look forward to the next signing, game etc. but if you look back over the past year, it’s been (overall) bloody brilliant
Don’t get me wrong the champ will be very difficult and it’s likely we will struggle, however I don’t think you can rightly say we’ve not had a go with the signings we have made over the past season and a bit (including cov and and Ramsey in this)
So if JRC players right wing back, who are the three you go with in the middle?
Presuming Ramsay is there. It’s two from Jones, Macca, Burke and Bell
Think the onus is on Burke and Bell to come in and prove they're properly upgrades. Jones would be first name on the team sheet for me when he's fit.
Would expect Ramsay,Jones and Gilly to start against Watford assuming no injuries
Will be interesting to see Saturday and in Slovenia what kind of combos NJ experiments with.
Depends how loyal Jones wants to be. Assuming hes fit I think Burke is an upgrade on all of them.
Burke raises a really interesting conundrum. I could see a situation where he slides in at RCB and Ramsay to RWB against certain sides especially away. If he can stay fit for more than the 15-20 games that Luton fans seem to think he's good for then what a good headache to have!
Costello is definitely a nice alternative to Galbraith, and at least he is ahead of him in actually proving himself in the championship, similar versatility.
Hopefully he is available for most of the season and it sounds like a solid signing.
Comments
Presuming Ramsay is there. It’s two from Jones, Macca, Burke and Bell
Would expect Ramsay,Jones and Gilly to start against Watford assuming no injuries
Will be interesting to see Saturday and in Slovenia what kind of combos NJ experiments with.
As it stands:
GK: Kaminski, Mannion AMB
RWB: Ramsay, Asiimwe, Rankin-Costello
RCB: Burke, Ramsay, A.Mitchell
CB: Jones, Z.Mitchell
LCB: Gillesphey, Bell
LWB: Edwards, Bell
DM: Coventry, Taylor
CM: Docherty, Anderson, Rankin-Costello
AM: Carey, Berry
ST: Olaofe, Campbell, Kanu
ST: Godden, Leaburn, Ahadme
Expect to depart
Yet to sign
Looking at that, you'd want another defensive minded midfielder in, and probably a winger who can also play CAM. A wing-back that can cover both sides would really nail the squad depth too, and if I'm greedy I'd want another striker.
3 signings after Rankin-Costello, 4 at a push, with 4 or 5 to depart would make for a great summer.
Hopefully he is available for most of the season and it sounds like a solid signing.