FOR the first time, Jordan Rhodes has indicated that he might want to leave Blackburn Rovers.

In truth, the day was going to come eventually.

Anyone who has had any dealings with Rhodes during his three years at Ewood Park will know that he is one of the nicest, most polite footballers you could ever wish to meet.

If he is ruthless in front of goal, he certainly shows no signs of that kind of temperament away from the pitch.

But Rhodes is ambitious, and always has been. If he hadn’t been, he would never joined Rovers in the first place.

Rhodes may never have made any public statements asking to leave Huddersfield Town when he did move to Rovers for £8m in 2012, but privately he was making it clear that he wanted to move to Ewood.

That was perhaps one of the biggest reasons why a deal that appeared off at one stage was revived just before the August transfer deadline.

Now Rovers have sadly become Huddersfield, the club whose promotion prospects look more of a long shot than a reasonable expectation right now.

Middlesbrough in contrast are where Rovers once were - the Championship’s big spenders, seemingly prepared to stop at nothing to secure promotion to the Premier League.

Perhaps we should not be surprised then that Rhodes’ stance is the same as it was back in 2012, even if it is more surprising that he has made that stance very public this time.

His comments immediately bred a #FreeJordanRhodes campaign on Twitter yesterday among Middlesbrough fans, hopeful that their club can seal a deal for the striker.

The campaign had echoes of a similar crusade to sign Jelle Vossen a year ago, and this time featured Rhodes in mocked up pictures behind bars or trapped in a chicken coop. Even comedian and Middlesbrough fan Bob Mortimer tweeted his support.

By yesterday afternoon #FreeJordanRhodes was trending in the UK along with Jake Gyllenhaal, Hulk Hogan and National Tequila Day. Quite a combination.

Middlesbrough did eventually sign Vossen a year ago, albeit only on loan, and it will be interesting now to see if they are able to get their man in Rhodes.

Venky’s have a history of attempting to stand firm against bids for their star players, even if the likes of Phil Jones and Chris Samba did eventually get their moves.

But the owners refused to sell Rhodes to Hull City a year ago, and know that the striker is a rare symbol of a deal they have got right during their time at the club.

He is the only signing left of a Shebby Singh era that otherwise delivered the likes of Leon Best, Dickson Etuhu and Danny Murphy. It was a costly period for the club, in more ways than one.

To let Rhodes leave might almost be seen by Venky’s as admitting defeat, and pride has always been a key factor in their decision-making at the club.

Whether they can hang on to Rhodes will depend on whether the player himself is prepared to accept no for an answer and get his head back on playing for Rovers, or whether yesterday’s statement was a line drawn in the sand.

As Burnley found out with Jason Shackell, ultimately if a player is determined to leave, sometimes there is no other option but to get the best deal possible and sell.

A poll on the Lancashire Telegraph website yesterday showed that 69 per cent of 1,908 voters were in favour of selling Rhodes after his statement.

Even if there might have been a few opportunistic Middlesbrough and Burnley fans adding their weight to the vote, the consensus from many Rovers supporters on Twitter also appeared to be that a sale might be the best solution in this situation.

Rhodes was never going to be happy at Rovers forever while they continued to miss out on the top six. He is too good for that, and everyone in Blackburn knows it.

Yesterday was always going to come. What happens now is another matter.