GRAEME Souness today said Morten Gamst Pedersen has all the attributes to become a top Premiership player -- but he has warned fans not to expect the 'new' Damien Duff.

Blackburn supporters were expected to get their first glimpse of the club's new £1.5 million signing in this afternoon's clash with Manchester United at Ewood.

And Souness believes the 23-year-old has the talent to set English football alight, although he insisted he's a different type of player altogether than Duff, the man he's effectively been brought in to replace.

"Whoever we bring to this club will be held in comparison with Damien Duff but that's unfair because players of Damien's type are a dying breed," said Souness.

"There's not many Damien Duffs around anymore. Football really doesn't want them because they are seen as a luxury.

"Morten is not like Damien. Damien is quite unique in the modern game in terms of he's a dribbler who likes to run with the ball and that's what gets you on the edge of your seat.

"We see Morten as more of a working left-sided midfield player who chips in with goals.

"Left-sided midfield players and strikers are the two hardest to find in my experience but we've seen him on several occasions and we think he has all the qualities to be a success in our football."

Pedersen first came to Souness's attention when he scored twice in front of the watching Rovers boss during a friendly between Norway and Northern Ireland earlier in the year.

Souness then called former Rovers star Stig Inge Bjornebye, who's now the assistant manager of Norway, to find out more about the former Tromso player.

That prompted a flurry of scouting missions to Norway as Souness, chief scout Terry Darracott and first team coach Dean Saunders all made separate trips to cast their eye over the winger.

In fact, no other player has been watched more times by Rovers during Souness's four year tenure at the club than Pedersen and they eventually agreed a £1.5 million deal with Tromso for him earlier this week.

"We've been pursuing him for a long time," explained Souness.

"When I saw him play against Northern Ireland you obviously think to yourself 'is this a one-off?'

"But immediately after the game, I phoned Stig and asked the question 'Was that a one-off or does he play like that every week?'

"He said 'I don't know but the word is he's going to be a proper player' so we went to watch him after that and we've obviously seen something we like very much, which is why we've pursued him long and hard since then."

The big question now, of course, is can Pedersen adapt to the demands of the Premiership?

He is widely regarded as the hottest talent to come out of Norway since Jon Arne Riise joined Liverpool three years ago.

But the Premiership is a different proposition altogether compared to the Norwegian Championship and Souness admits the time to judge his new recruit will be at the end of the season.

"I hope he'll score goals for us and he hope he settles in quickly," said Souness.

"The tempo of our game catches all the foreigners out when they come over here because it's so intense.

"There's no other league in the world where football is played like it is in England.

"It's in your face, it's very fast and very aggressive and it's all about how quickly you can adapt to that.

"He will be asked to do things two yards quicker than he was doing it in Norway and we'll have to wait and see if he can deal with that.

"But I'm confident he will be able to deal with it."

In the meantime, Souness has also confirmed that he's still interested in signing the French midfielder Charles-Edouard Coridon.