Blackburn Rovers will always wonder 'What if?' when it comes to £4.1m man | OneFootball

A motorcycle accident in Italy nearly killed this ex-Rovers striker. He was lucky to survive but his football career at Ewood Park was never the same.

After a relatively strong start to the season, Blackburn Rovers fans will be hoping to be at the business end of the Championship table come the season's end.

Rovers will be pushing to be in with a shout of a return to the Premier League for the first time in 13 years come May, after they were relegated at the end of the 2011/12 season.

A strong January transfer window will go a long way in pushing for that, but it's unlikely any player at the club, new or old, will ever have a story to tell like ex-striker Matt Jansen.

He showed great promise in blue and white during the early 2000's and was in the prime of his career, but a narrow near-miss on his life meant his footballing ability was never the same thereafter, leaving many Rovers fans to wonder how his career had turned out had things been different.

Matt Jansen's promising early career saw him on the fringes of the England team

Jansen made his professional debut for his hometown club Carlisle United in 1995, and after rejecting an approach from Alex Ferguson's Manchester United in 1998, he swapped Cumbria for Croydon, joining Crystal Palace for a reported £1 million.

He showed incredible promise at Selhurst Park, scoring 10 goals in 26 league appearances, and that prompted a quick £4.1 million move to Ewood Park in the winter of 1999.

The striker continued his great form in Lancashire, despite Rovers' relegation that season back to the second tier of English football. His 24 goals in 48 games during the 2000/01 season proved vital as they won promotion back to the Premier League, and he continued that form the following season.

He bagged 10 goals in the league and 16 for the season in all competitions, earning a call-up to the England squad (albeit he had to pull out due to illness) as the 2002 World Cup in South Korea and Japan was just around the corner. Tipped to be the next big thing, one day in Rome changed everything for Jansen.

The Matt Jansen accident that effectively changed his career trajectory

Jansen and his partner Lucy had rented a scooter while holidaying in Rome to travel easily around all the sights. They were heading back to their hotel when the pair were hit by a taxi, which knocked Jansen into a coma for six days. He only just survived but was remarkably back playing football four months later. However, it was clear he would never be the same.

"I thought I was indestructible before the crash," he told The Sun in an interview in 2019. "Everything I did was instinctive. Then, after the accident, I had to think about the game instead of it coming automatically."

He scored just six more goals for Rovers before he was released from his contract in January 2006. Jansen joined Bolton Wanderers, who were still in the top flight at the time, but failed to hit the back of the net in any of his seven appearances for the club and was released at the end of the season.

It took three years to find a new club and, after a trial with Huddersfield Town in February 2009, he joined Wrexham for the remainder of the season. Once on the fringes of the England squad, Jansen eventually faded into non-league obscurity, never being able to play at the level, or ability, he had before his tragic accident.

Blackburn Rovers will always wonder what could have been with Matt Jansen

Matt Jansen had the world at his feet before he was very nearly struck down in his prime. He has since reflected on how lucky he was to survive, but the circumstances of how he went from promising young talent to essentially having to learn the game from scratch again is an incredibly unfortunate story.

Rovers fans will therefore always wonder what might have been for Jansen had he not been involved in such a bad accident.

The money they initially invested in him was a notable amount for the time, but his pre-accident form allowed him to prove his worth. It is highly likely, that had he been sold, the club would've made a lot of money for his services - if they wanted to cash in that is.

There is no doubt he became a household name among Rovers fans, but in a manner that is very different to how footballers normally become club legends.