Kean welcomes Samba departure

Christopher Samba's departure will help Blackburn's squad pull together in their fight against relegation from the Barclays Premier League, according to manager Steve Kean.

Rovers refused to let the defender leave during the January transfer window despite his very public desire to do so but Kean kept him out of the matchday squad and Samba finally got his wish on Friday when he joined Russian side Anzhi Makhachkala.

Kean told the Lancashire Telegraph: "The pivotal point was that Chris didn't want to apologise, didn't want to withdraw his transfer request and was very adamant that he wanted to leave and that played a big part of it. On a positive side, now we know everyone we have in the dressing room wants to be here. We will all be pulling together."

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