Blackburn Rovers turned £200k into £6m with masterstroke signing: View | OneFootball

Blackburn Rovers signed Rudy Gestede from Cardiff City in 2014 and he made the club a huge profit

After a difficult start to life in English football, Blackburn Rovers offered Rudy Gestede a lifeline in the autumn of 2013, and it's fair to say that it was a move that paid off - for both player and club.

Born in France, Gestede had played for the likes of Metz and Cannes before joining Cardiff City in 2011, but the striker was unable to find his feet in the Welsh capital, struggling for playing time and making minimal impact when he was given a chance.

It looked as if Gestede couldn't quite adapt to English football, and he could have been forgiven for thinking about whether a move back to his homeland would have been a good idea, but Blackburn took a punt on him and helped turn him into a real star at Championship level.

Gestede may have only been a permanent Blackburn player for a year-and-a-half, but he made the club huge money, and the decision to sign him proved a masterstroke.

Gestede had spent the 2011/12 and 2012/13 seasons in the Championship with Cardiff City, helping the Bluebirds win the title during his second season, but he'd struggled for regular starts, and following their promotion to the Premier League he fell further down the pecking order.

After just 49 minutes of Premier League football between August and November, the Bluebirds decided to send Gestede on loan to Championship side Blackburn, signing an emergency loan deal at the end of November 2013.

Despite failing to score in his first month at the club, Blackburn decided to sign Gestede on a permanent basis on the 1st January, the day he scored his first goal for the club, forking out just £200,000 to sign the Benin international.

It proved an excellent call, and he scored 13 times in 27 Championship appearances during the second half of the season, an impressive return - and things got even better the following season.

The 2014/15 season was Gestede's only full season at Ewood Park, and he made the most of it, scoring 22 goals and registering six assists in 44 appearances, a return of a goal every other game, making the striker an absolute bargain for £200,000.

Rovers very nearly lost him in January 2015, just a year after they had bought him, with Premier League clubs like Hull City, West Brom and Crystal Palace keen on him, according to The Guardian.

However, despite him remaining at Ewood Park until the end of the season, it was just a matter of time until he moved to the Premier League, and he joined Aston Villa for £6million in the summer of 2015.

While it was far from ideal to lose Gestede, Rovers could have no complaints about making a £5.8million profit after just 18 months at Ewood Park, and their decision to sign him back in 2014 proved a masterstroke.

Following his move to Villa in 2015, Gestede played for Middlesbrough, Melbourne Victory, Panetolikos and Esteghlal before announcing his retirement from football in 2022.

However, this summer it was announced that Gestede would return to Ewood Park as the club's Head of Football Operations, being responsible for recruitment and helping manager John Eustace build the squad that he wants.

Not many people would have envisaged the former Rovers striker returning to Ewood Park in this capacity, but on early evidence, it seems to be working well.

Blackburn made some good signings in the summer, with the likes of Yuki Ohashi and Makhtar Gueye making a big impact in the opening weeks of the season, despite being unknown quantities prior to their arrivals.

It's been a decent start to the season for Blackburn which has coincided with his arrival, and had they not paid the bargain £200,000 to bring him to the club back in 2014, Gestede wouldn't be in his current - and very important - role at Ewood Park.