BLACKBURN Rovers are poised to sign Brian McBride next week after the long-running transfer saga took another dramatic twist last night.

A move for the 31-year-old has been revived in the last 24 hours and Rovers now look set to sign the player next week in a £600,000 deal.

A deal for the United States international appeared to be dead in the water after Rovers' initial advances were rebuffed by Major League Soccer bosses and officials from Columbus Crew.

Initially, Graeme Souness wanted the former Everton and Preston North End front-man on loan for the rest of the season.

But MLS bosses indicated McBride would only be allowed to leave on a permanent basis, which prompted Souness to cool his interest.

Now the Rovers boss has had a change of heart in light of recent results and the lack of a viable alternative.

So a deal for the American looks set to go through in the next seven days after the player's agent, Paul Stretford, contacted Rovers last night to indicate their proposal has been given the green light.

"I had a conversation with an agent last night and there's a possibility a deal can be done," said Rovers' chief executive John Williams.

Williams and his fellow directors have come under mounting pressure from fans to give the manager funds to bolster his squad during the January transfer window.

But with money tight, the board have had to draw on virtually every last penny in order to finance a deal for McBride.

Once that transfer is wrapped up, Souness would then have to trade if he wanted to bring anyone else in before the end of the month.

His cause may be helped if Dino Baggio agrees a move back to Italy.

As we reported earlier this week, the former Italian international turned down the chance to join Ancona.

However, that deal may now be resurrected following further talks this week.

As I understand it, Baggio will fly to Italy this weekend to hold further talks with the Serie A side.

If he agrees a deal then that will free up some funds in the wage bill which would allow Souness to bring in another loan signing or maybe even a player on a Bosman.