Blackburn Rovers are receiving interest from two League One clubs regarding young defender Jake Batty.
The 20-year-old had a successful loan at fourth-tier Accrington Stanley last season and is now ready to make a step up, with Lincoln City and Rotherham United both keen on adding him to their squads.
With a way into Rovers’ first-team looking unlikely, Batty is set to head out on loan again with the two third-tier sides expressing their interest, as reported by SportsBoom.
Lincoln City and Rotherham United eye up young defender
The former England U17 international enjoyed his first taste of regular senior football in the 2024/25 campaign, making 29 appearances in all competitions as Accrington finished 21st in League Two.
He made his debut for Blackburn as a 17-year-old against Hartlepool United in a 4-0 EFL Cup win in August 2022, but has only featured in one more competitive fixture for the club since then.
Despite being included in match squads, he has not played in any of their pre-season friendlies this summer and appears to have no way into Valerien Ismael’s plans.
Lincoln and Rotherham both finished mid-table in League One last season, 11th and 13th, with just two points separating them.
Both sides also won their first games of the 2025/26 campaign last weekend, with the Imps defeating Reading 2-0 and the Millers seeing off newly-promoted Port Vale 2-1.
Batty is nominally a left-back but is also comfortable playing as a left wing-back, a role in which he occupied regularly in the second half of last season.
Which club would be a better destination?
One of Lincoln’s key departures this summer was defender Sean Roughan, who left on a free transfer to join fellow League One side Huddersfield Town.
The Irishman was an important part of the Imps’ team, making 117 league appearances in the past three seasons, and therefore left a big hole in their eleven.
New signing Ryley Towler played left-back in the victory over Reading but his strongest position is in the middle of defence, so head coach Michael Skubala will still want to reinforce the position.
In comparison, Rotherham already have two strong left-backs in their squad in the form of Reece James and summer signing Ar’jany Martha, formerly of Ajax.
Therefore, it would seem unlikely that manager Matt Hamshaw, who is in his first senior management role, would bring in Batty, unless he intends to use him in a more advanced position on the left wing.
As a result, the Imps seem the most likely destination for the Rovers youngster and a deal could be completed in the next week.
Whilst Batty may not immediately match the standards that Roughan set last season, Lincoln have a successful history of developing young players, such as Brennan Johnson and Morgan Rogers, so a move to the LNER Stadium would help him to vastly improve his game.
