STIG Bjornebye is being lined up for a special spying mission by Blackburn Rovers - to act as the club's main scout in Scandinavia.

The former Norwegian international is planning to return to his homeland in the summer after retiring as a player through injury.

But Graeme Souness wants the former Liverpool star to act as a talent spotter for Rovers.

And the 33-year-old has said he is relishing the chance to repay the club for the way they have stood by him during his injury trauma.

"It's early days yet so nothing is set in stone," said Bjornebye.

"But the club has been absolutely brilliant with me in terms of the way they've handled everything and settled everything since my contract expired.

"I had a very, very good chat with Graeme and we'd both like to keep in touch and help each other out if we can do.

"So I'd be delighted to do some work for him and Blackburn Rovers if the opportunity arose.

"My relationship with the club is something special and I'd like to retain a link.

"We've talked about a possible scouting role and we will continue to talk about that.

"The plan would be for me to keep an eye on what's happening in Norway and reporting back to Graeme.

"We haven't spoken in detail about exactly what he would want me to do but we will come up with something."

Rovers are currently trying to spread their scouting network as far as possible in a bid to attract the best young talent to Ewood.

The club's Academy staff have already recruited a number of players from the continent and Souness is keen to explore as many avenues as possible in his search for potential stars of the future.

"We've already got someone working for us in Australia and I'd like to establish links in Turkey as well, because they're starting to produce a lot of technically gifted players," said Souness.

"The plan would also be for Stig to keep tabs on Norway and the Scandinavian scene as well."

Rovers' chief executive John Williams also confirmed the club are keen to get Bjornebye on board.

"When Stig moves back to Norway and gets settled in we are going to talk to him with a view to him being our Scandinavian scout.

"He's very thorough in everything he does and we consider him to be a good judge so that's something we are going to discuss."

Bjornebye recently took the decision to retire from the game on medical grounds after failing to make a full recovery from a serious eye injury sustained in a freak training ground accident last April.

But he will continue to train at Brockhall until the end of the season before returning to Norway with his family.

"When I had to retire, I'm glad I was able to switch focus rather than feel sad about the situation," said Bjornebye.

"You've got to look forward and to the future and this will hopefully form a part of what I plan to do.

"I won't be employed as a full-time scout. It will be a part-time role because I've also got one or two other things in the pipeline.

"But it means I'll retain an involvement in football."