Blackburn Rovers have dropped out of a deal to recruit Ryotaro Ito due to a problem discovered during his physical.

According to the Lancashire Telegraph, details on a deal had been reached with the Japan international, but an ankle injury has thwarted the move.

Ryotaro Ito is not signing for Blackburn Rovers after a new transfer twist.

Ito is now a free agent after leaving Belgian club Sint-Truiden earlier this summer, which suggests he may have been registered outside of the transfer window.

Clubs can still add a free agent to their squad if they have the room in their 25-man rosters.

However, Ito will not be making the move to Ewood Park, as the transfer has been called off while Rovers seek a second opinion on the playmaker’s ankle injury.

Tony Mowbray has been frustrated by the Blackburn hierarchy, with the 62-year-old back in charge of Rovers since the summer for a second spell, and this latest saga, which flipped-flopped several times on September 10, is the latest in a long line of setbacks for the Ewood Park outfit.

Blackburn Rovers fans are fired up after the Ryotaro Ito incident.

When asked about the situation surrounding Ito, FLW’s Blackburn fan analyst Simon Middlehurst stated that the club has become a laughing stock under the current leadership.

He highlighted his displeasure with their persistent inability to complete deals, comparing the situation with the 28-year-old to clinching the signing of an injured Moussa Baradji last season, implying that Rudy Gestede should be removed from his role at Ewood Park.

“It’s a complete joke, isn’t it?” “Blackburn, we are a laughing stock,” Middlehurst told Football League World.

“We can never seem to get anything right in terms of transfers.

“Ito has got an ankle problem, apparently, that could’ve been sorted.

“Baradji was injured for three months last season, yet Gestede thought it would be a good idea to sign him.

“No one’s got any idea, or what clue, what is going on in that club anymore.

Ryotara Ito – Sint-Truiden league goals and appearances (source: Fbref.com)

Season

Appearances (starts)

Goals (Assists).

2023-24

36 (30)

7 (4)

2024-25

33 (27)

2 (3)

2025-26

35 (34)

10 (5)

“We’re just a laughing stock.

“We can’t get anything right, it’s the same thing every transfer window; nothing goes right for us.

“The board needs sacking, Gestede needs sacking, there’s something going on at that club that just isn’t right.

“Everyone else can do transfers, apart from us, everyone else can do transfers right, apart from us, it is getting beyond a joke now.”

Ito spent three seasons in the Belgian Pro League, making 104 appearances and scoring 19 goals and 12 assists.

He was a significant player for Sint-Truiden last season, helping the team finish third in the rankings, however he left at the end of the season since his contract expired.

The 28-year-old is now a free agent, but it is unclear where he will end up after his prospective transfer to Blackburn fell through. Could another EFL club leap in?

After the Ito saga, the Blackburn Rovers hierarchy faces greater anger from the fanbase.

Blackburn have become a laughing joke, as this is far from their first transfer market catastrophe in recent years – consider the deadline-day deals for Lewis O’Brien and Duncan McGuire that went through owing to administrative issues.

The current summer window was bad enough with the dearth of new recruits, but there was genuine enthusiasm about bringing in someone with Ito’s record from last season – but their delaying over a potential physical condition has resulted in them starting from scratch.

Gestede is under a lot of pressure right now because he hasn’t been able to win over the fans since taking on such a prominent recruitment role, and his decision to pull out of the Ito deal, despite sanctioning a move for Moussa Baradji last season despite being injured for months, will almost certainly lead to accusations of hypocrisy.

Mowbray has been let down by a lack of transfer market support after his squad nearly averted relegation last season.

The Ito scenario is only so severe because Blackburn is in the position of having to trawl the free agency market at all, which is damning in and of itself given that they had three months to address the deficiencies in their squad during the summer window.