THE Premiership might be getting ready to wind down this weekend but Blackburn Rovers fans could be in for an interesting summer ahead.

Graeme Souness has already starting formulating his plans for next season and he's told the board that he wants four new players in place by August.

Phase one of the plan is to persuade the three out of contract players to sign up again.

So far talks appear to have gone well.

Craig Short has already committed himself to the club for another year and Jonathon Douglas is expected to follow suit shortly.

That just leaves Tugay, and the indications are the popular midfielder will sign for one more year.

However, with all due respect to those three players, that's hardly going to send season ticket sales soaring through the roof this summer.

No, what the fans want to see is a couple of signings that will really set the pulses racing and that could be difficult to deliver given the amount of money Souness is likely to have at his disposal.

The top priority must be a left-sided midfielder. If Rovers don't sign anyone else this summer then they must at least get in a genuine left-footed wide player.

The man I'd got for is Nottingham Forest's Andy Reid. One of my close friends works at Forest and he's been raving about Reid for the last two and a half years. He's a feisty player with an eye for goal and the fact he's still in his early 20s means he's only going to get better.

The problem is Forest are likely to want £5 million, which puts him out of Rovers' price range unless Souness sells some of his fringe players in order to fund the deal.

Failing that, the Rovers boss will probably have to switch his search to the continent, which means taking a gamble on a 'Johnny Foreigner' with little or no experience of English football.

Souness has also stated he would like a central defender, a striker and another midfield player but the chances of him getting all three depends on who leaves Ewood this summer.

If Andy Todd were to move on then Souness could use the transfer fee and wages to line up a replacement and Leeds United's Dominic Matteo would be my preferred choice. However, the position regarding a striker may be slightly more complicated.

As I understand it, Rovers would want to start next season with a minimum of four strikers.

Dwight Yorke is already out of the equation so if he moved on this summer, that wouldn't necessarily mean a replacement being recruited as Souness would still be left with Andy Cole, Jon Stead, Paul Gallagher and Matt Jansen.