Blackburn Rovers to sign Stoke City midfielder | OneFootball

The midfielder has been linked with a move to Ewood Park for a lot of the summer.

Stoke City midfielder Lewis Baker is set to go on loan to Blackburn Rovers, in a deal that will see the former Chelsea player stay at Ewood Park until the end of the season.

Sky Sports have reported, via their live blog (15:30, August 29th), that Baker will head to Ewood Park on a temporary basis.

He has less than a year left on his Stoke contract. He is now set to become a free agent soon after the deal ends, meaning he most likely has played his final game for the Potters.

Stoke originally wanted Blackburn to pay £2.5 million for the 29-year-old, according to Alan Nixon. He'd previously reported Rovers' interest in Baker and stated that manager John Eustace was a big fan of his. It now appears that the Blackburn boss has got his man for way less than he may have had to pay earlier in the window.

This won't be the only option in the middle of the pitch that the Potters lose before Friday's deadline. Josh Laurent is set to join Burnley, further weakening Steven Schumacher's midfield core.

Blackburn and Stoke's intertwined summer business

The two Championship sides have been joined at the hip in this transfer window. Sam Gallagher made the move from Lancashire to Staffordshire, and it now looks like Baker will be heading the other way.

At one point, another midfielder was linked with crossing this divide, but in the opposite direction to the way that Baker is set to go.

Lewis Travis was linked with a move to the bet365 stadium, after returning from his own loan spell with Ipswich Town last season. An essential swap deal could have taken place, but noise on the Travis to Stoke front has died down a lot.

Blackburn's late business

In these closing stages of the window, Rovers are looking to be very active. They are set to complete a £500,000 move for Rangers and former Norwich City attacking midfielder Todd Cantwell, and they are looking into another temporary deal, this time for Brighton & Hove Albion winger Amario Cozier-Durberry.

Ipswich defender George Edmundson, who is considered to be available on loan, is another player to be linked with Blackburn, among other second tier sides like Middlesbrough and Portsmouth.

They've made a surprisingly good start to the season, picking up seven points from a possible nine in the league, in large part because of their smart recruitment earlier in the window.

They brought in the likes of Yuki Ohashi and Makhtar Gueye, both of whom have made an instant impact. They will hope that any other additions that are made before the deadline can have the same hot start as those two.

Lewis Baker addition is another sign of more smart business by Blackburn

To get a player rated at £2.5 million a month ago on a loan deal where you're going to have to cover his wages, at most, is pretty good stuff by the Rovers recruitment team. There's not even any mention of a loan fee being paid.

Baker isn't a world-beater at this level, but he is another solid piece to add to Eustace's options. He started a dozen games for Stoke in the previous campaign and has experience in some of the top divisions in Europe.