Jordan Rhodes to Middlesbrough: Championship side pull plug on £9m deal for Blackburn forward

Scotland international returns to Blackburn after Boro decided the costs were running too high

Jordan Rhodes scores the first of his two goals on Saturday (PA)

Middleborough have pulled the plug on a £9m deal to sign Blackburn Rovers striker Jordan Rhodes after the price of the transfer rose too high.

The Championship pair had agreed a fee and the Scotland international was in Teesside yesterday to discuss personal terms ahead of a deadline day switch.

But Boro chairman Steve Gibson has reflected that the overall cost, including wages, built in pay-rises and bonuses, had grown too high and elected to cancel the deal. After being withdrawn from the Rovers squad to play at Oxford in the FA Cup, Rhodes completed a medical at Rockliffe Hall in Middlesbrough before hearing the news.

Expecting to lose his star striker, Blackburn manager Paul Lambert said this week: “Sometimes you have to go back to go forward and the Jordan thing, while people will be disappointed, they have to understand why we have done it.

“This football club will outweigh any individual. It always will. And we have to make ourselves as strong as we can.

“Nobody can criticise Jordan Rhodes’ contribution to Blackburn Rovers. He’s been a phenomenon. But that’s football. We have to get a better team.

“That’s my concern, having a team that can compete to get out of the league, and hopefully the money will help us in that aspect.”

Rhodes has scored 85 goals in 169 matches for Blackburn since leaving Huddersfield in 2012, where he netted 87 times in 148 games.