BLACKBURN Rovers today insisted Dwight Yorke is not for sale.

Rovers boss Graeme Souness has rejected a new enquiry from Portsmouth for the former Manchester United star.

And in another twist to the saga, the Ewood chief has also warned other interested parties to forget about signing the 32-year-old striker.

Portsmouth boss Harry Redknapp was ready to cough up £400,000 to take Yorke to Fratton Park before the start of the season.

But Souness has now decided that Yorke DOES have a future with Rovers after all, in what is a major U-turn by the manager.

Earlier in the summer, Rovers were actively looking to off-load the player on a free.

In fact, Yorke's relationship with Souness had reached such a low that he was left out of the squad that travelled to Germany for a pre-season tour.

Since then, however, Souness has had a complete rethink, so much so that Yorke has played in both of Rovers' last two pre-season friendlies.

Now the club have informed Yorke's agents that he's no longer available and there's even talk of a new contract for the player if he knuckles down and performs for Rovers this season.

Rovers' chief executive, John Williams, said today: "We are aware of interest from a number of Premier League clubs, which is understandable given the situation that prevailed but things change in football.

"Dwight has worked very hard in pre-season and Graeme has advised the board that he now wishes to keep the player and any clubs who enquire about him are being advised accordingly."

Of course, much now depends on Yorke himself and

whether or not he feels he can still work under Souness.

The pair have had a stormy relationship in the past and Yorke launched a savage attack on Souness in a Sunday tabloid only two weeks ago, in which he accused the Rovers boss of trying to break his leg.

It remains to be seen whether those wounds can be healed or not.

Several clubs - including Portsmouth and Bolton - have enquired about Yorke in the last few weeks and the striker may feel his interests would be better served elsewhere, which would leave Souness with a thorny problem.

In the meantime, Rovers have failed in a bid to sign the Liverpool midfielder Anthony Le Tallec on a season-long loan.

Souness contacted the Reds with a view to taking Le Tallec for a year but the player favours a move back to his native France instead, with St Etienne thought to be his most likely destination.

However, if that were to fall through then Rovers would resurrect their interest in the highly-rated young Frenchman.

Preliminary talks also took place with the Rangers defender Craig Moore yesterday but there's still some work to be done before a deal can be struck.

Meanwhile, Rovers fans could get their first glimpse of Spanish signing Javier De Pedro in tomorrow's friendly with Sporting Lisbon.

De Pedro has missed the last two games with a thigh injury but the club are hopeful he could be fit to return against the Portuguese giants.

Craig Short is also back in training after a knock kept him out of the matches at Stockport and Preston last week.

Rovers have slashed admission prices in a bid to entice fans to tomorrow's game.

Adults can watch Rovers take on one of the top club sides in Europe for just £12, while juniors, senior citizens and young adults will pay just £6.

Rovers reserves drew 0-0 with Chester City in a pre-season friendly at the Deva Stadium last night.