Sam Allardyce is TOUGH

Blackburn Sam Allardyce has felt the scorn on many but no-one should doubt his bargaining skills if he pulls this deal off.

With Manchester City openly pursuing Rover striker Roque Santa Cruz, the Blackburn leader with ice-water veins rejected the £12m bid as pithy and issued a straight forward response:

"It is down to Man City to make the offer and blow us out of the water.

"There is no price we are going to put on Roque's head - obviously, we simply want him to play for us and help us stay in the Premier League, which is the most important thing for me and this club.

"I can't second guess what Manchester City are going to do. Whatever happens between now and next week, as time goes on in this usual transfer window of mayhem, we will wait and see.

"You never say never about anything because you never know what is around the corner when January is on the boil."

Mark Hughes responded of bringing in the Paraguay international:

"We still want to bring (Roque Santa Cruz) him to the club if we can but he is Blackburn's player and they don't want to deal at the level we have made a bid at. That is their prerogative."