Eric Black insists Blackburn Rovers Football Club can cope without Christopher Samba.

The Ewood Park captain has secured an £11million move to Russian side Anzhi, after declaring in December that he wanted to leave the Lancashire side.

Samba has not featured in recent weeks for the Premier League strugglers, and assistant manager Black insists the club can avoid relegation without their star defender.

“He hasn't played for a few weeks and our performances have been exceptional,” he said on skysports.com. “The guys that have been in there have done exceptionally well."

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