BLACKBURN boss Graeme Souness has scrapped any plans to sign Leicester City midfielder Muzzy Izzet.

Souness was expected to resurrect his interest in the Turkish international this summer after failing in a bid to lure him to Ewood during the January transfer window.

However, I can reveal that Izzet is no longer a target for Rovers even though Souness wants to add two more midfielders to his squad in time for next season.

And the Rovers boss will also allow Markus Babbel to re-join Liverpool, too, when his current loan spell expires at the end of the current campaign.

Funds are likely to be tight this summer and Izzet would have been a viable option as he's set to become a free agent in the next few weeks.

Leicester boss Micky Adams has already admitted that Izzet will be leaving the Foxes in the summer but it's now highly unlikely that he'll end up at Ewood as Souness has decided to switch his search elsewhere.

The same can also be said for Babbel who will head back to Anfield after Rovers complete their Premiership programme against Birmingham next week.

Babbel was a regular in the side until recently but he then lost his place when Lorenzo Amoruso and Craig Short came back from injury.

He did return again last week and performed admirably in Rovers' 1-0 victory over Manchester United but the decision not to sign him permanently has already been taken, which paves the way for a possible return to Germany this summer.

In the meantime, Tony Parkes believes Rovers have taught the rest of the Premiership a valuable lesson this season in the way they've got behind Graeme Souness.

The board could have acted rashly when Rovers were struggling for results after Christmas but instead they chose to stick by Souness and that loyalty could now be rewarded in the shape of a mid-table finish.

"The club have done well by him," said Parkes.

"There's never been any talk about Graeme leaving the club, they've stuck with him and that decision has been proved right.

"I think a lot of clubs can learn from that. Clubs are very quick to sack their managers these days.

"They see the league position and make a snap decision because there's so much pressure on clubs and managers now.

"But they could look at Blackburn Rovers and see what we've done.

"In two games' time, we could be 10th or 11th in the table which would constitute a fairly good season considering we're supposed to have been in a dog-fight for the last few months."