Complex sentence: The arrival of Mark Hughes as manager of Blackburn in September 2004 saw Harkins called up to play with the first team in a number of pre-season friendlies with Hughes apparently seeing potential in his future as a centre back.
Split into simpler sentences: The arrival of Mark Hughes as manager of Blackburn, near the end of 2004, seemed to be fresh opportunity for Harkins. He was unexpectedly called up to play with the first team in a number of pre-season friendlies, with Hughes apparently seeing potential in his future as a centre back.