Blackburn Rovers have had a fair few gems in recent seasons ply their trade at Ewood Park, but one that not many may well be surprised to go on to become a stellar top-flight player is Yasin Ayari.

A fruitful academy and some impressive loan signings, trusted in developing some of the brightest talents in the country, Blackburn have had their fair share of players look set for big things in the last decade or so.

Whether it be a homegrown starlet such as Adam Wharton or a loanee from Liverpool like Harvey Elliott; Blackburn have earned a reputation for being an impressive creator and nurturer of often genuinely elite level talent.

One man that Blackburn brought in on loan but didn’t necessarily set the world alight was Yasin Ayari – but he is now being linked with the likes of Arsenal and Manchester United.

After a brilliant start to the campaign for Brighton and Hove Albion as The Seagulls challenge right at the top end of the Premier League table, English giants Arsenal and Manchester United are now reportedly interested in Sweden international midfielder Yasin Ayari.

Ayari, who scored Brighton’s tenth minute third in their eventual 5-0 demolition of arch-rivals Crystal Palace at the weekend, has emerged as a key cog in Fabian Hurzeler’s impressive Albion side.

Having arrived from AIK in 2023, Ayari initially spent time in the Championship on loan at Coventry City and Blackburn – two sides trusted in the second-tier to develop Premier League talent.

After a fairly underwhelming time of it, Ayari returned to the AMEX Stadium ahead of the 2024-25 campaign when Brighton embarked upon a new era following the appointment of the youngest ever permanent coach in the Premier League, Fabian Hurzeler.

In his debut campaign on the south coast, former St Pauli boss Hurzeler had his critics but led Brighton to an eighth placed finish as well as an FA Cup quarter-final before repeating the same league position last season and qualifying for the UEFA Europa Conference League.

Throughout his time at Brighton, Hurzeler has had heavy backing in the transfer market with an impressive squad assembled, particularly in the middle of the park.

As well as the development of Jack Hinshelwood, emergence of Malick Yalcouye and return of Pascal Gross; midfield options have also been bolstered by the signings of Mats Wieffer, Matt O’Riley, Diego Gomez and Chema Andres.

Wieffer, O’Riley and Gomez have all found themselves shifted around into different positions, be it at full-back or even out-wide in attack with Yasin Ayari establishing himself as a key man in the middle of the park.

Known for their extremely impressive identification of talent and then their pathways through into becoming big money assets in the first-team, to become a key man for Brighton is always a sign that you are a stellar talent – and Ayari has transformed himself into that.

Having been a goal scorer for Sweden at FIFA World Cup 2026, further boosting his profile, Ayari has kicked on again this season and become instrumental to their success as a technically gifted box-to-box midfielder with a real eye for goal, too, as shown by actually scoring in Hurzeler’s first game in charge back in August 2024 when they won 3-0 at Goodison Park against Everton.

Yasin Ayari did not necessarily shine at Blackburn

Since beginning their season with a goalless draw in the Arctic Circle in the first-leg of their UEFA Europa Conference League play-off round tie against Tromso, Brighton have gone on to score 34 goals in ten matches across all competitions with just one defeat, a 4-3 loss away at Chelsea, in 11 games thus far.

That famous hammering of Palace was their second 5-0 win of the season in the Premier League, while they have also earned famous victories in coming from 2-0 down to beat Manchester United in the EFL Cup and also hammer champions Arsenal in the league, too.

For those two giants of English football to turn their big spending attention to Brighton to pick off more of their squad and to land on Ayari as the man that they want is not something Blackburn supporters would have expected.

After a disappointing and fairly forgettable stint at Coventry in the first half of the 2023-24 campaign, Blackburn were then deemed the next suitable landing spot to reignite Ayari’s season but he never got going in Lancashire.

Joining a Blackburn side then coached by Ayari’s soon-to-be Sweden boss Jon Dahl Tomasson, before his emergence into a key man for the national side under Graham Potter, Ayari appeared on the bench twice and then made a 23-minute cameo before Tomasson was sacked in early February.

Under the management of John Eustace, Blackburn managed to ensure they stumbled clear of the bottom three and the relegation places but Ayari remained largely on the periphery; leaving Ewood Park after having managed just one start for Rovers.

Blackburn have been a fruitful developers of Brighton talent

As well as Harvey Elliott, Blackburn were also trusted in developing his fellow Liverpool youngster Tyler Morton a few years ago with the former England U21 international now a key man for French giants Olympique Lyonnais.

Before that saw Manchester City trust Rovers with Tosin Adarabioyo and Taylor Harwood-Bellis and even when Ayari joined, AFC Bournemouth had opted to send now key man James Hill for a temporary stint in East Lancashire.

Yasin Ayari failing to live up to what his potential now is down on the south coast did not prevent Blackburn from managing to sign Amario Cozier-Duberry from The Seagulls in the summer of 2025 – and that is because Blackburn have been very handy in developing players from the Premier League – and from Brighton.

Prior to Ayari’s signing, Blackburn had previously signed both Jan Paul van Hecke and Reda Khadra on loan from Albion in August 2021; with the former now a big money sale from the south coast to Tottenham Hotspur this summer and the latter having failed to kick on due to injuries.

The season in which Ayari joined mid-way through had also seen Rovers take Andrew Moran on loan with the Irishman now having joined their Lancashire rivals Preston North End on a permanent basis a couple of months ago. Eiran Cashin also moved from Brighton to Blackburn in January this year before he returned to Derby County in the summer.

For a club so well attuned and impressive in terms of decision-making and player development such as Brighton to repeatedly trust Blackburn with their starlets only goes further to making the rise of Ayari even stranger after his disappointing stint at Ewood Park.