Blackburn Rovers got more than West Ham from former Champions League winner: View | OneFootball

Benni McCarthy had a mixed return across his two clubs in England

Highlights

It is now quite some time since Blackburn Rovers last found themselves competing in the Premier League.

The Ewood Park club suffered relegation from the top-flight of English football at the end of the 2011/12 season, and have not returned to that level since then.

Prior to that, though, the Lancashire outfit had enjoyed a long spell in the Premier League, having been promoted back in 2001.

During that time, Blackburn did enjoy some significant success in the top-flight, even if it did not match the title-winning exploits of the 1994/95 campaign.

Nevertheless, it did allow them to make some rather eye-catching signings in that period, one of which was Benni McCarthy.

Blackburn Rovers signed Benni McCarthy with an impressive CV

It was the summer of 2006 when Rovers completed the signing of McCarthy, with the striker arriving for a reported £2.5million fee from Portuguese giants Porto.

Prior to his move to Ewood Park, the South African had already lifted plenty of silverware in Europe.

McCarthy won an Eredivisie title and two Dutch Cups with Ajax, while his stint with Porto earned his two top-flight titles, a Portuguese Cup, and the 2004 Champions League title.

As a result, such an impressive record means there ought to have been some considerable expectation of the striker once he arrived at Blackburn.

But if there was any pressure felt by McCarthy, he did not show it during his time on the books at Ewood Park.

That would instead, prove to be a success for the striker, certainly when compared with the latter part of his career in England.

West Ham move would eventually fall flat for Benni McCarthy

With his move to Blackburn completed, McCarthy would enjoy an excellent debut campaign at Ewood Park.

The South African scored 18 goals in 36 Premier League games for Rovers during the 2006/07 season as they finished tenth in the final standings.

In the end, only Chelsea's Didier Drogba (20) would better the tally set by McCarthy in that period.

McCarthy also helped the club to the UEFA Cup knockout stages, and semi-finals of the FA Cup during that campaign.

One of his most memorable moments would come during that cup run, a stunning late goal earning Rovers a 1-0 win over Arsenal in a fifth round replay under the lights at a bouncing Ewood Park.

In total, he scored 24 goals in 50 appearances in all competitions during his first season with Blackburn.

Although he would not replicate such prolific returns in the following seasons, McCarthy still remained a reasonably reliable goalscorer at Ewood Park.

In both the 2007/08 and 2008/09 seasons, the striker would get into double figures in terms of his goalscoring returns for the club.

But amid a raft of speculation around a move elsewhere, that would change during the 2009/10 season, as the goals began to dry up for McCarthy.

Then, the January 2010 window would see the striker get his move, as he headed for another Premier League side, West Ham, for a reported fee of £2.5million on a two-and-a-half-year deal.

Courtesy of that deal, Blackburn were able to break even with their investment on the former Champions League winner.

By contrast, McCarthy's struggles would not improve after he had completed his move to Upton Park.

He would instead, struggle to settle with the Hammers, rarely playing, and finding himself unable to make an impact when he did get onto the pitch.

That meant West Ham missed out on the same sort of impact Blackburn benefitted from when they had first signed the South African international.

Indeed, by April 2011, the London club had come to an agreement with McCarthy to mutually terminate his contract, with the player said to have received a £1.5million pay-out as part of his exit.

By the time of his departure from the Hammers, the striker had failed to score in 14 appearances in all competitions for the club.

With that in mind, while Rovers got both an impact on the pitch and a return on their investment from the signing of McCarthy, the Hammers will certainly feel they missed out on both of those objectives, from their own deal to sign the striker.