El-Hadji Diouf has “no regrets” over his controversial departure from Sunderland, where his stay was terminated after a furious dressing-room confrontation with Anton Ferdinand last week. The Senegal international joined Blackburn Rovers for £3 million on Friday after allegedly threatening Ferdinand in the wake of Sunderland’s 1-0 victory over Fulham on Tuesday, conduct that the club deemed unacceptable.

Diouf, who was an unused substitute in the match, expressed displeasure at his failure to force his way into a side that have been struggling for results. Ferdinand, the centre half, is understood to have stood up for the club and his team-mates.

While Sunderland are content to have sold a disruptive influence, Diouf, 28, who has a long history of disciplinary problems, has spoken to Ferdinand and claims the matter is forgotten. “It is gone, it is finished,” he said. “Anton is my man. He just made me mad for one day, but that’s it. He knows that I don’t like it when someone gives me a headache. Everybody knows my character. If there is something wrong with the team then I want to tell everybody.

“Anton is a good man. I have spoken to him since and I don’t have an issue with him. I don’t regret what I said. I don’t regret anything. It’s just that he told me something while I was talking to the gaffer and it was not the right time to do that.

“He used to come to my house to eat, drink, everything. I used to go to his house to play pool. Me and Anton never had problems. It’s just when I’m mad I had a problem with him.”

In Blackburn’s Sam Allardyce, Diouf has been reunited with a manager who brought the best out of him at Bolton Wanderers. “Sam was a big reason why I have signed for them, because I know him and he knows me,” he said. “A lot of people don’t understand me but he does."