BLACKBURN boss Graeme Souness was today hoping to persuade Michael Gray to join Rovers' relegation fight.

Souness opened talks with Sunderland last night and he is confident of wrapping up a permanent deal for the 29-year-old in the next 24 hours.

"We are talking to him today and we hope he'll agree to join us," said Souness.

"He's a player we've had an on-off interest in for a while. We are short of left-sided players and the advantage Michael has is he can play at left-back, left-wing back or left midfield if necessary.

"I always like to have a left-footed player in the team if possible. We've had to play Jonathan Douglas out there recently because of our injury problems but if Michael joins us then he will give us more options."

Rovers are trying to fix up a deal which would see them take over the England international's contract but they could face late competition from Bolton and Celtic as Sam Allardyce and Martin O'Neill are also keen on the player, too.

"I believe Bolton are in for him as well but the boy has said if everything is right then he'd like to come here," said Souness.

Gray began his career at Manchester United where he found himself behind Ryan Giggs in the pecking order, so he left for Sunderland in 1992 and became a popular figure in the North East, clocking up over 400 appearances for the Wearsiders.

At one stage, he was widely regarded as one of the brightest left-sided players in the country and he went on to win three England caps under Kevin Keegan.

But now Sunderland boss Mick McCarthy is prepared to let him go for free in an attempt to reduce the wage bill at the Stadium of Light.

McCarthy was forced to off-load 23 players last summer following his side's relegation from the Premiership -- a move which prevented the club from going into administration.

But several high earners still remain on the Black Cats' books and Gray is one of them.

That was the reason why McCarthy agreed to loan him out to Celtic earlier this season.

Gray spent several months in Scotland and although he wasn't a regular at Parkhead, Bhoys boss Martin O'Neill was thought to be keen on making the arrangement permanent.

However, Rovers now appear to be in pole position to land him in a cut-price deal after Souness stole a march on his rivals.