David Dunn has suggested that former club Blackburn Rovers may live to rue failing to cash in on Jordan Rhodes this summer.
The prolific striker was heavily linked with a move away from Ewood Park, with Championship rivals Middlesbrough in particular thought to be interested.
Having already lost Rudy Gestede earlier in the transfer window, it would have presented a huge blow to Rovers' hopes of mounting any sort of promotion push, but Dunn believes that the potential £13m windfall was simply too much to turn down for a club facing financial difficulties.
"Rhodesy is a fantastic finisher and I'm sure everything that has happened this summer won't affect him," he is quoted as saying by Gazette Live. "He's a really level-headed lad, a lovely lad, and there is no question he will give 100% every time he pulls on a Blackburn Rovers shirt. There is no question he will continue to score them goals.
"However, if I'm being brutally honest, when they got the bid in from Middlesbrough, I think for all concerned it would have been a good move to accept it. Middlesbrough would have been getting a fantastic goalscorer, it would have been a new challenge for Jordan at a club he maybe feels has a better chance of promotion, and Blackburn would have been getting £12m or whatever the numbers were.
"Now there is no way they would have wanted to lose him but to get a return like that on a player nowadays is great. But the window is closed now and I've got to agree with [Gary Bowyer], I think it would probably be better off ending before the first kick ball is kicked. It would make things a lot easier and it would allow people to concentrate on football rather than all the other business that comes with it."
Boro instead turned to David Nugent after missing out on Rhodes, paying Leicester City £4m to land the former England striker.
