1 week Ago
The Austrian scored a 97th-minute equaliser in Ismael's debut match against Norwich City but sadly damaged his meniscus and was ruled out for the season. The timeframe on his comeback is around three months. At 33, that is not an insignificant injury and Rovers are likely to take their time in assessing his physical condition.
The hope is that he will make a full recovery and return the player who has impressed so much in his first year at Ewood Park. His fitness could be the only factor that prevents Rovers from tying him down for a second year. Weimann remains the team's top goal-scorer and has provided fantastic experience, as well as quality, to the squad.
READ MORE: Blackburn Rovers' stance on Academy status and medical review after injury woes "Andi's injury was a crazy one," Ismael told The Lancashire Telegraph last week. "I came in and I've only seen Andi a few times since I'm here. I saw him once before the Norwich game obviously and after that, he was already gone.
"I've had some chats with him already. We need to assess to see how bad the injury is and we will come back. The profile from Andi is important for us to see what you need, you know what you get.
"He has a great mentality, he's a great guy, he's important, the fans love him. So we know all the facts on the table. On the other hand, you need to know the fitness level from a player because this is why you sign a player.
"You're not signing a player because he's a nice guy, because you want to see the performance on the pitch. So we need to assess everything but I'm sure that, at the end, we can have something positive. "When you are losing a scorer like Andi Weimann, he's really good for the players.
When you see when he's on the pitch, the players have the strong belief we can score at any time because he's always in a good position. Then it gives you that confidence." Rovers haven't made final decisions on those out of contract in the summer yet.
Danny Batth, Adam Forshaw, Weimann and Tyrhys Dolan are the four whose terms expire in 2025. The latter's situation is obviously quite different to his peers. "No (final decisions), we have started discussing the profile of players we need because at the beginning as I want to have an overview," Ismael continued "First, you need to give the player a chance to play, not only one game, it's about two games, to see the player in those situations.
"What happens when he started the game, what happened when he's on the bench, you are losing the game, what kind of player we've got in the team, which player is able now to show the leadership? "So I think it starts now actually to really have the big decision for the next season.".
