CELTA Vigo have made a surprise bid to sign Blackburn Rovers striker Matt Jansen.

As I understand it, the La Liga club have sounded Rovers out about the possibility of taking Jansen to Spain on a permanent basis.

But the popular forward was today set to reject their offer in favour of having one last crack at trying to revive his career at Blackburn.

Had Jansen decided the time was right to make a fresh start elsewhere, then Rovers were willing to let him go.

Graeme Souness is not actively looking to force Jansen out of the door but he has admitted that the striker's opportunities may be limited this season and he wants to be fair to all parties.

Vigo were offering Jansen the opportunity to rebuild his career in the sun by taking over the remaining year of his contract.

But the former Crystal Palace star has decided to stay and fight for his place after being encouraged by the way that Dwight Yorke has managed to battle his way back into Souness's plans.

When asked about his future recently, Jansen said: "I don't want to leave, I want to stay and try to get back in the team.

"I'm going to keep working hard as long as I'm here and you never know what can happen in football.

"If you look at Dwight Yorke, he has come from nowhere to get himself back in the first team so it shows what can be done if you put the work in and that's what I want to do.

"I need games to prove myself, rather than just having 10 or 20 minutes because it's not really enough time to show what I can do."

Although Souness has admitted that Jansen is currently fifth in the pecking order for places up front, he has not ruled out the possibility of promoting him at some point.

"Matt is in the last year of his contract and he's still our player until someone else comes in and makes us an offer we can't refuse," said Souness.

"He's contracted here so he could get used at any time.

"He's not in the squad at the minute but that doesn't mean he won't be in the squad in the future."

Jansen was an integral part of the Rovers side that won promotion in Souness's first full season, finishing that campaign as the club's top scorer with 24 goals.

Then the following season, his form in the Premiership was so impressive that it earned him a call-up to Sven Goran Eriksson's England squad, although a bout of sickness prevented him from winning his first senior cap.

But things turned sour for the Ewood favourite when he suffered serious head injuries in a motorbike accident later that summer and although he's since made a complete recovery, he hasn't managed to win back his place in the Rovers first team.

"There's nothing wrong with Matt. Physically and mentally he's fine but with Matt it's a confidence thing," said Souness.

"Right now there's a couple of people in front of him and the only way he's going to get confidence is by playing in the team and scoring goals.

"But right now that's not on because I think Jon Stead, Paul Dickov, Dwight Yorke and Gally are all in front of him."

In the meantime, Jansen is expected to play for Rovers reserves in their game at Manchester City tonight (kick off 7pm).

The match is being played at Sportcity, next to the City of Manchester Stadium and the full reserve squad is: Yelldell, Peers, Morgan, Douglas, Fitzgerald, Bruce, Donnelly, Harkins, Jansen, Johnson, Taylor, Derbyshire, Drench, Hodge, Welch, Nolan.