Premier League promotion hopefuls Bournemouth have launched a £2m bid to bring Rangers-linked Joe Rothwell to the Vitality from Championship rivals Blackburn Rovers.
That’s according to TalkSPORT, who are claiming that Scott Parker’s side hope to pip the competition to land Rothwell by tempting Blackburn with their third cash offer as the player’s contract ticks down.
However, reports coming out of Lancashire have claimed that Blackburn have rejected the Joe Rothwell offer because it doesn’t come close to their valuation of the player [Lancashire Telegraph].
Blackburn are themselves in the hunt for Championship promotion and clearly value the 27-year-old’s contribution to their Premier League charge.
With Premier League promotion said to be worth £180m [BBC Sport], you can see why £2m may not be enough to tempt Blackburn to sell ex-Man United youth Joe Rothwell.
Blackburn currently sit 2nd in the Championship – occupying an automatic promotion berth – whilst Bournemouth sit 3rd.
Joe Rothwell Rangers move “almost certain” under Steven Gerrard
Rangers have been extensively linked to Joe Rothwell in the past with journalist Alan Nixon linking the Gers in October last year.
The Rangers links were so strong that a Football League World report claimed that Joe Rothwell was “almost certain” to move to Ibrox when his contract expired.
But this was when the club was under the management of Steven Gerrard and since then Rangers have scarcely been mentioned alongside the Blackburn Rovers star.
All this talk of bids in the reported Rangers target also come after Joe Rothwell was dropped for Blackburn’s 1-0 win over Middlesbrough.
However, manager Tony Mowbray – remember him? – claims the player’s absence was down to a back injury.
“He was much better than he was yesterday, but still a bit stiff, he couldn’t rotate,” said Mowbray.
“The best thing was to leave him out. We knew about Middlesbrough’s physicality and their ability from set plays and it was no problem to leave Joe out and put Bradley in who could help us with those situations.
“Joe will hopefully in with a chance at the weekend.”
Rangers-linked Joe Rothwell has played 29 times for Blackburn this season, scoring three goals and laying on seven assists.
Meanwhile, Rangers have reportedly had a bid pipped for one high-profile Euro target who looks set to finally decide on his future.