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Thursday 13 January 2011

Santa Cruz's Rovers Return
















Credit; here



I, for one, was surprised to hear that Roque Santa Cruz was leaving City. Not so much that he was leaving, but that he was coming back to Blackburn Rovers.

It's widely understood that Santa Cruz, 29, will return to Ewood Park and become Steve Kean's first signing as Rovers boss but whether or not it's a good signing will have to be seen.

There's a mixture of opinions across Rovers fans, some would like to see him back as our physical centre forward, but I'm not so sure.

If you look at his goalscoring record alone, he has only scored more than 6 goals in a season once, at Blackburn, albeit profiting from some excellent deliveries from the in-form David Bentley.

Considering Santa left Rovers for a side he named a bigger club, I'm surprised he's even considering coming back, especially given that Mark Hughes, who twice signed him, has moved to Fulham.

At the very least, it could be a good bit of business from Blackburn Rovers, who made £14m selling him on, but he's hardly of the mould of Ronaldinho or David Beckham, who the new owners wanted to see wear the club's blue and white.






Rovers failed to sign either of their optimistic targets.




Credit; here


Maybe the connection with Rovers will see him establish himself in what could be his final chance in England, but it's obvious that he's going to have to stay fit and merit a place in a team where Niko Kalinic, Jason Roberts, Benjani and Mame Biram Diouf are already fighting for what is sometimes a lone striker role.

Santa Cruz has only been away from the club for 18 months after scoring 23 goals in 57 appearances, but hasn't discovered the same form at City, scoring only three goals and taking a side role to Carlos Tevez, and now Edin Dzeko and Mario Balotelli.

There was a lot of optimism before Kean was appointed that Hughes, who's Fulham side were stuttering, might return and sign Bentley, who has now gone on loan to Birmingham, to supplement Santa Cruz, as he did in the 2007/08 season.







David Bentley and Roque Santa Cruz were instrumental in Rovers finishing 7th in 07/08.










If the Paraguayan striker can get anywhere near the form he showed at Rovers first time around, I'm sure the fans and staff will be delighted, but he definitely has a point to prove.

It will be interesting what part he plays in this season with the new owners looking to propel the team well up the league, ideally into the top 4 or 5, as Venky's wished when they took over the club in November.

Whether anyone else comes in might depend on whether the club can keep hold of Christopher Samba, with the owners adamant that they didn't need to spend more than £5m in the January transfer window.

That will remain to be seen, as will whether the transfer is finalised, but Rovers fans should be cautious as to what to expect from the 6'2 hit man second time around.

What do you think of Santa Cruz? Can he hack it in the Premier League? Please discuss below.

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