BLACKBURN boss Graeme Souness believes Jon Stead and Paul Gallagher have what it takes to become weapons of mass destruction in the Premiership.

Souness, who will lead Rovers for the 100th time in the top flight at Middlesbrough tomorrow, swooped earlier this week to sign Stead in a deal which could eventually be worth more than £1 million.

And the Ewood chief is convinced his latest signing can go on to form a potentially explosive partnership with Gallagher during the next few years.

Stead, a product of Huddersfield Town's youth academy, first caught Souness's eye more than 12 months ago.

Since then, scouts have regularly visited the McAlpine to monitor his progress.

And Souness eventually decided the time was right to take a chance on the 20-year-old last week after scouring Europe in his search for more fire-power.

"I don't want to start making comparisons between him and Gally, but I do think Jon is a similar type of player and the boy has a chance of making it at this level," said Souness.

"We wouldn't have spent the money on him if we didn't believe that.

"Hopefully, him and Gally will be the future of this club for many years to come."

Stead had already built up a small army of admirers with some rousing performances for Huddersfield, for whom he had scored 18 goals in 31 appearances this season.

However, it's one thing doing it in the Third Division and another trying to repeat that in the Premiership.

Nevertheless, Souness has great belief in his new recruit and, as he has demonstrated on numerous occasions in the past, he won't be averse to throwing him in at the expense of players with bigger reputations over the course of the next few weeks and months.

Rob Jones, the former Liverpool and England defender, got his big break under Souness at Anfield less than a week after being plucked from the lower divisions.

So don't bet against Stead appearing against Boro at some point tomorrow as Souness looks for the winning formula needed to get Rovers' season back on track.

"He's got a good goalscoring record, he's mobile, and his touch is good but he's still only a baby," said Souness.

"Who knows how he will handle the step up to the Premiership? Time will tell.

"But Jon is a confident boy and we've got confidence in him."

Stead is likely to start on the bench at the Riverside, with Andy Cole and Gallagher set to get the nod up front, as Rovers go in search of their first win of 2004.

Last week's 3-2 defeat at the hands of Chelsea was the club's 12th in the Premiership and only Leeds have lost more.

In contrast, Boro are currently on the crest of a wave after they reached their fourth cup final in seven years by dumping Arsenal out of the Carling Cup on Tuesday night.

Much of their success this term has been built on solid defensive foundations.

Only Chelsea have kept more clean sheets in the Premiership this season than Steve McClaren's side.

On the minus side, however, Boro have only managed to score 11 goals at home in the league and that chronic lack of fire-power is the main reason why they are 12th in the table, just four places and five points above Rovers.