Sunderland's Championship rivals suffer major transfer blow after deadline day blunder

Sunderland's rivals in the Championship Blackburn Rovers have been handed a transfer blow.

Duncan McGuire had agreed a loan move to Rovers on deadline day and travelled over to England to be announced as a new signing by the club's social media team.

However, the loan move had not been approved by the EFL as registration documents were submitted after the 11pm deadline last Thursday.

McGuire, a USA international, has scored 15 goals in the 2023 season for Orlando, and will now travel back to America after the EFL rejected Rovers' appeal on Thursday.

An EFL statement read: "The EFL Board has today upheld the decision of the EFL Executive to reject the application from Blackburn Rovers to register Duncan McGuire on loan from Orlando City.

"The EFL initially rejected the request to register the player on the grounds that Blackburn had failed to submit the required paperwork by the 11pm transfer deadline on 1 February 2024 but the Club asked that the Board review that decision.

"Blackburn Rovers admitted it did not click to submit the application to the EFL until after the closure of the window as a result of human error but argued that all relevant details had been agreed, signed and uploaded onto the system in advance of 11pm.

"Upon comprehensive review of submissions, the Board determined that the upload of documents into a draft application area did not constitute sending documents to the EFL."

A statement from Blackburn Rovers added: "The club is disappointed by the outcome, but accepts the decision of the EFL Board.

"Duncan McGuire will now return to Orlando at the earliest opportunity to re-join his club ahead of the start of the 2024 MLS season.

"As was previously communicated by the club, Rovers will fly over to the United States over the coming weeks to try to conclude a pre-contract agreement with Orlando City, so that the 23-year forward can officially become a Rovers player in the summer.

"Rovers wish to sincerely thank Duncan McGuire and the player’s representative, as well as Orlando City and the supporters of both clubs, for their patience and understanding in this matter, which will hopefully reach a positive conclusion in due course."