Who is the only player to feature in every Championship game that John Eustace has taken charge of as Blackburn Rovers manager?

Want a clue?

The same player featured in all 36 league games he was fit and available for last season, and hasn’t been an unused substitute since February 2023.

Still struggling?

Well, this player has featured in 173 matches out of a possible 216 since becoming a professional footballer.

The man behind these impressive numbers is Tyrhys Dolan.

Another number worthy of consideration for the duration of this piece is June 2025.

That is, of course, when Dolan’s contract at Ewood Park expires.

To go back to the start, Rovers snapped up Dolan in the summer of 2020 on a two-year deal after his release by Preston North End, having notably caught the club’s eye with his performance at Ewood in an FA Youth Cup tie earlier that year.

Initially earmarked for the Under-21s, an impressive pre-season saw him fast-tracked into the first-team set-up from which he hasn’t looked back.

His first-team status, and contributions on the pitch, saw him sign a three-and-a-half year deal just eight months after joining this club.

It is that deal, which included a 12-month option that Rovers trigged in the summer, that is currently winding down, and with no signs that it will be extended, it got me thinking.

Firstly, Rovers are yet to agree a new contract with a first-team player this calendar year, and if not addressed, the situation of Dolan could well become a theme.

I don’t want this to come across as preaching to a young lad about a situation I don’t know the ins and outs of, and he’s unlikely short of people giving their view of what is best for him.

But from the information available, it strikes me as a peculiar situation.

I struggle to see what the end game is, and you don’t have to look too far into the past to find situations whereby a player was left regretting leaving a deal unsigned…

There is potentially the thought that being a free agent in 2025 will be the best chance of securing the most lucrative of contracts from an interested party.

However, that will need to come alongside an agreement of compensation with Rovers, or a possible tribunal, due to him only being 23 when his current deal comes to an end.

While that isn’t going to be a break-the-bank figure having only arrived at Rovers as an 18-year-old, it’s still something to factor in.

If financials are a key part of this, then there has been a contract on the table, with undoubtedly an increase on his current terms, left unsigned for at least a year.

Whatever that figure is, over the course of more than a year, won’t be inconsequential.

And penning such a deal to receive said uplift in salary would hardly be signing your life away, Rovers are hardly in a position to be holding players to ransom when other clubs calling, as recent examples have proven.

While there will undoubtedly have been incentives and incremental increases, the only deal Dolan has signed since joining in 2020 was that long-term contract in February 2021, and would likely have reflected his status within the squad, from his current one is much different.

I hope there doesn’t come to be a regret about that money left on the table.

Of course, this could all be about a new challenge for a player who has no experience of first-team football outside of Rovers, and that would be understandable.

Though few are afforded the position of Joe Rothwell, and to an extent Darragh Lenihan, whereby their next move has a feeling of being set in stone when running down a contract.

The lack of concrete links to a potential new home would suggest nothing is set in stone.

From what we are led to believe, during the process Dolan has switched representatives, usually a sign that a move is on the horizon.

Should he opt to depart next summer, then Dolan would be walking away from being a near guaranteed starter, stats would suggest, under the management of a boss who has shown great faith in him.

Finding a new club offering significant increase in salary, and regular first-team football, is a tough ask to find for any player, particularly one yet to turn 23.

Though footballers can’t afford to think sentimentally, this is a short career, and Dolan has been as good for Rovers as he has been for them, and I do believe there will be offers.

I just hope, for the sake of a young footballer who I have a great deal of respect for, finds the right solution for him, that works for him, and is in his best interest, and his alone.