BLACKBURN boss Graeme Souness today wished David Dunn all the best with his move to Birmingham and denied the pair had ever had a bust-up.

Dunn finally sealed his £5.5 million move to City yesterday after passing a medical.

And Souness admits he is sorry to see the player go but insists he had no choice but to sanction the move after the player turned down the offer of a new contract.

"First of all I would like to thank David for all his efforts and wish him well for the future," said Souness, speaking exclusively to the Evening Telegraph from his holiday base in Spain.

"It must be a big wrench for him and the supporters to have a home-bred player leave the club.

"I am disappointed he felt his future lay elsewhere, because the two of us never had a problem.

"There have been all sorts of rumours of a bust up and arguments, but I can categorically say that at no time did we ever fall out.

"All I tried to do was make David a better player and if he doesn't see that now, he never will."

Souness publicly criticised the player in January, blaming outside influences for his loss of form and fitness at first team level.

But he continued to pick the 23-year-old whenever he was available and even tried to get the player to sign a new deal at the end of last season.

However, Dunn had decided his future ultimately lay elsewhere by then and indicated he wasn't prepared to commit his long-term future to Rovers.

So from that point on, a transfer became inevitable and Birmingham pulled out all the stops to land him.

Andy Cole has summed up the mood in the dressing room by saying Dunn's departure is sad news for the club but he understands why Souness had to let him go.

"It's a shame that David is going but that's the manager's decision," said Cole.

"David had a run-in with the manager and the manager always wins.

"But he has made his decision and they have to do what is best for both of them."

Now Cole hopes Souness will be given the cash from the transfer to reinvest in new players.

"The team is improving all the time and the manager is doing a great job. He's assembled a fine team and it was a fantastic accomplishment to finish sixth.

"The manager is talking a lot about Europe now and kicking on.

"Hopefully we can do that by bringing in some new players."

Meanwhile, Rovers could be ready to resurrect their interest in Vratislav Gresko after the player has indicated he may re-open negotiations.

"There's still some discussions going on," said chief executive John Williams.