BIRMINGHAM City have resurrected their bid to land Blackburn midfielder David Dunn.
I can confirm the Midlands club have got back in touch with Rovers in the last 48 hours about a summer swoop for the England star.
But suggestions that Blues boss Steve Bruce is trying to offer Martin Grainger as a possible make-weight in any deal have been strenuously denied at the Blackburn end.
"I can confirm we have talked to Birmingham again," said chief executive John Williams today.
"We rejected their first offer but we are talking again. No other players have been mentioned as part of any package."
Birmingham had an initial offer of £5.5 million rejected by Rovers a fortnight ago because they were only prepared to pay £3 million up front, with the remaining £2.5 million based on them staying in the Premiership for the next two years.
It's now thought the Blues are trying to restructure the package with more money up front and less based on their top-flight status - even though chairman David Gold recently vowed he would not be 'held to ransom'.
Rovers are not interested in a player exchange because manager Graeme Souness does not fancy anyone in Bruce's first team squad.
He did try to sign Grainger two years ago but he has since switched his attentions to Parma's Vratislav Gresko as a solution to his problems at left-back.
Everton, Middlesbrough and Chelsea are also interested in Dunn but the Blues are the only club to have tabled a firm offer for the 23-year-old.
Dunn has so far refused to comment on the speculation regarding his future.
But as I understand it, he would be keen on a move to St Andrews after falling out with Rovers chief Graeme Souness.
Meanwhile, Souness remains interested in Aston Villa defender Alpay -- as we exclusively revealed a fortnight ago.
The Rovers boss has long been an admirer of the Turk and may even offer Dwight Yorke as possible bait in order to lure him to Ewood.
Souness still hopes to land Rangers star Lorenzo Amoruso but ideally he'd like to partner the Italian with Alpay at the heart of a new-look defence next season, although finances could ultimately dictate whether that happens or not.
One possible solution could be to offer Yorke as part of a swap deal as new Villa boss David O'Leary is thought to be keen on taking the 31-year-old back to his former club.
However, Souness would be reluctant to part with another striker given the fact he recently decided to let Hakan Sukur go.
Elsewhere, Rovers have denied any interest in Charlton midfielder Scott Parker.
And weekend reports suggesting Spurs are trying to line up Souness as their next manager have also been scotched by the club.
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