Blackburn Rovers are hoping that Benni McCarthy will sign a new contract as Mark Hughes, the manager, moves to secure the long-term futures of several key players in his squad.
McCarthy has less than 2½ years left on his contract, but preliminary talks have taken place between the club and Rob Moore, the South Africa striker’s adviser, over a new deal, with Hughes optimistic that an agreement can be struck before the end of the season. “Discussions have been ongoing for quite a while and we will continue to talk,” John Williams, the Blackburn chairman, said yesterday.
Although McCarthy is 30 and has struggled to make the same impact this term that he did in his first season in England, when he scored 24 goals, Hughes believes that the striker still has several years left in him and knows that it would cost a small fortune to find a worthy replacement in the transfer market.
McCarthy’s public hankering for a move to Chelsea last summer raised doubts about his desire to stay at Ewood Park, although interest in the striker has waned, with the top clubs eyeing Roque Santa Cruz, his strike partner, who was the subject of a failed £4.5 million bid from Manchester City last month.
Blackburn are also keen to tie David Bentley, the England midfield player, and Stephen Warnock, the left back, to new deals. Bentley signed a 4½year contract in February last year that keeps him at Ewood Park until the summer of 2011, but, given his excellent form for club and country, Blackburn are keen to offer him an extended deal on vastly improved terms amid interest from a host of English and European clubs. Talks are at an advanced stage and an agreement is thought to be close.
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Warnock, who has impressed since joining Blackburn from Liverpool for £1.5 million in January last year, is understood to be keen to commit his long-term future to the club.
Blackburn flew to Florida yesterday for a week-long warm-weather training break with Warnock confident that the club can qualify for Europe again this season. The 2-0 defeat away to Arsenal on Monday was Blackburn’s first in the league since they lost at home to Chelsea on December 23, which was the culmination of a brief slump in form, and the defender is backing the team to go on another unbeaten run.
Blackburn are ninth in the table, five points off a Uefa Cup place, and face Bolton Wanderers at home on Sunday week. “If you look at the last five or six games, I think we’ve been a lot more solid defensively and we’ve conceded fewer goals,” he said. “I think [against Arsenal] we showed what a good defensive unit we’ve got at the back, and it’s not just the back four, it’s the lads who are working in front of us to make our jobs easier.
“I think we just got away from working as a team [for a while in December] and it got a little individual, with people working when they felt like it. We got into the habit of thinking that we were a good team and didn’t think we had to win the ball back. We were just waiting to get the ball back.
“But I think we’ve now got back to what we do best, so hopefully we can push on after the Arsenal game, take heart from our performance and go on another unbeaten run.”