Sheffield Wednesday: Owls striker Lucas Joao joins Blackburn Rovers on loan
Joao becomes Rovers first January signing although, contrary to reports, the Championship club do not have an option to buy him on a permanent basis come the summer.
Blackburn fought off strong competition from Wigan Athletic to land the Portugal international.Joao, who has struggled to make an impact at Hillsborough, could make his Rovers debut against Leeds United on Wednesday night.
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Hide AdJoao was a valuable member of Wednesday's squad last year, hitting eight goals in their march to the Play-Off Final.But the 23-year-old, capped twice by his country, missed nearly three months of the first part of the 2016/17 season due to a groin injury.Joao returned to action at the end of November and led the line intelligently against Wolverhampton Wanderers.
However, his form dipped after he missed a great chance to get on the scoresheet in the defeat at Reading. Since then, Joao has found it difficult to command a starting spot. The lanky forward, recruited from Nacional in July 2015, has featured on only 12 occasions this term, finding the back of the net once. His last Championship goal came 11 months ago in a 4-0 thumping of Brentford.Sam Winnall's arrival has pushed Joao even further down in the pecking order. Boss Carlos Carvalhal has a plethora of attacking options at his disposal, including Winnall, Fernando Forestieri, Steven Fletcher, Gary Hooper and Atdhe Nuhiu.