JORDAN RHODES confessed to leaving Huddersfield Town with a heavy heart.
The 22-year-old Scot has been with the club since his teen years and will be fondly remembered by colleagues and supporters alike.
The £8m export to Blackburn Rovers became the biggest scoring sensation at the club since Marcus Stewart and Town legend Andy Booth and while he felt a change was right, he’ll always have a soft spot for the place where he shot to international stardom.
“Huddersfield is fantastic club,” he told his first press conference at Blackburn’s Brockhall training ground yesterday.
“ I have made a lot of friends there and the memories will last a lifetime. I leave with a heavy heart.”
While the fee for Rhodes matches that paid by Rovers for Andy Cole as a record for the club, he insisted he was feeling no pressure ahead of their trip to Leeds United.
Rhodes cut a relaxed figure as he posed for pictures alongside Rovers boss Steve Kean and was adamant the huge transfer fee just makes him feel wanted, rather than under real pressure to repeat past prolifics with Town.
He said: “Andy Cole was a tremendous player. I had a couple of sessions under him at Huddersfield under Lee Clark. He put on a couple of finishing sessions and it was good to take a few tips from him.
“I am just looking forward to getting started, to getting settled, used to the area and getting to know the lads. I am looking forward to it.
“I have not really thought about it (the price tag). It hasn’t had a chance to settle in and probably won’t for another six months to a year. I am just going to try to do everything on instinct and go with the flow.
“I just want to try and improve my game and do everything without thinking about things too much. It is a big price tag but it is a fantastic feeling for someone to come out and pay that type of money for you. It shows they want you so much and it is a really good feeling.”
Rhodes – whose transfer nets his previous club, Ipswich, a £700,000 bonus – insists he is looking forward to the new challenge.
“I have not thought about the step up and coming up from League I,” he said. “I have just tried to make the runs and get where I think the balls will drop and try and apply the finish that might go in the back of the net.
“I have had a couple of chances and maybe could have had a couple more goals, but I am happy with the return of two. Sometimes as striker they do go in and things are great. Sometimes they don’t and strikers live for goals.
“Ultimately you just give 100% for the team and it is the points that count. It is not the goals. If I don’t score we would all take three points, whether it be an own goal or anyone else scores.
“I don’t have a target. I will just try to do the best I can in any game I play and just try and give it my all. It is not about goals, it is about trying to get goals and trying to get in the top six and the top two.
“I will just try and make the runs and try to get on the end of it. Hopefully they do go in because that is what I love doing. There is no better feeling.”
So why Blackburn Rovers?
He said: “Hopefully Blackburn Rovers will be getting back to the status they should be.
“I don’t know who else was interested. You would have to ask Huddersfield Town that. I knew of Blackburn Rovers’ interest and knew how strong they were willing to pursue the transfer.
“They kept coming back for me and it showed how much they wanted me. This is a Premier League club, with Premier League facilities. You only have to come here and look around, see the players you are having lunch with. I see it as the next stage of my development.
“I am not a complete player by any means. I am playing with players who have played at the highest level here and I am coming here to learn from them. We have a great chance of going into the next league and that is where everyone wants to play their football.”
