Matteo out, new arrival in New Year?

Today John Williams confirmed that Dominic Matteo would be allowed to leave Blackburn Rovers in a loan move should there be any offers for his services. However, the club are yet to receive any formal moves. Williams told the Lancashire Evening Telegraph, "I think that sending Dominic out on loan might be a possibility but at the moment I'm not aware of any enquiries."

Matteo has failed to establish himself since injury led to him losing his place to Michael Gray. He was originally Mark Hughes` first choice at left back but has now fallen down the pecking order despite the release of Vratislav Gresko. With Hughes potentially looking to continue using Lucas Neill in the left-back birth and youth players like Martin Olsson and Jay McEveley seemingly ahead of Matteo, chances look limited for the ageing former Liverpool, Leeds United and Scotland International defender.

In fact Leeds were accredited with making an enquiry for their former player in the Daily Star on Tuesday.

Another ageing International making the news with Rovers at the moment is Wael Gomaa, the Egyptian International from club Al Ahli. He stated in the press last week that Hughes and his staff were impressed enough with his short trial during the summer that they promised him a transfer in January. He claimed, "Blackburn have seen me and said good things about me."

John Williams has added fuel to that fire today by stating that Hughes will again look at Wael during the closed transfer window, "We had a look at him and we may try and get him back for a period between now and then."

Gomaa was initially linked with the club as a short-term replacement for the injured Ryan Nelsen, who according to reports should be fit for Saturday's game against Sheffield United. However, it looked as though a move to Newcastle United was in the offering for Gomaa only for that to disappear. He has also been linked with a move to Bolton Wanderers and Tottenham Hotspur during the summer transfer window.

Gomaa was the fourth officially confirmed player to undertake a trial with Blackburn this summer, following spells for Didier Agathe, Jorge Acuna and more recently Shilla Illiasu (who also had an unsuccessful trial with Arsenal).

Hughes is a keen admirer of using trials before moving for a player. I personally believe this is a sensible approach to the transfer market. It also works with using players on loan before they get a permanent move. Shabani Nonda is the most recent recipient of this policy that has been successful in the past with David Bentley and Zurab Khizanishvilli.

The article was written by James Watson.

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