PRESTON boss David Moyes is mulling over a swoop for Blackburn midfielder Damien Johnson.

As I understand it, the North End chief is keen on the Northern Ireland international after watching him in action for the reserves recently.

But any hopes of a deal could hinge on whether or not Rovers decide to make the 23-year-old a new contract offer before his present deal expires.

As things stand, Johnson will become a free agent in the summer if a new contract offer fails to materialise.

So that means Rovers would come under increasing pressure to sell if the former Youth team star is not considered to be a part of Graeme Souness's long-term plans.

That would then pave the way for Moyes to make a move, depending on what sort of fee Rovers are likely to demand for the player.

The North End chief has personally watched Johnson in action on a couple of occasions over the last four weeks, the latest being in Wednesday night's reserve game against Manchester City.

And, though he is hoping to land Icelandic midfielder Thordur Gudjonsson on loan from Spanish club Las Palmas as a replacement for broken foot victim Mark Rankine, he is sure to watch developments with interest as Rovers prepare to make a decision on Johnson's future one way or the other.

Reports elsewhere have already claimed Moyes has been snubbed by Rovers over a move for the player.

But so far North End have yet to make any official approach.

Meanwhile, Ewood chief Souness has claimed record signing Andy Cole is even better than he first thought.

Souness knew all about Cole's goalscoring prowess before signing him in a £7.5 million deal from Manchester United a fortnight ago -- but he did not realise until now just how good a player he is.

The Rovers boss has been mightily impressed with the England forward, who was due to make his home debut against Charlton this afternoon.

"We got Andy here to get us goals. I think in the short time he's been here not only myself but the players who play with him realise he's going to give us something different," he said.

"His type of movement -- clever movement -- is just one of the things in his game which has surprised me because you never know what a player is like until you work with them.

"Watching someone from a distance and then being on the training ground every day with them gives you a truer insight into what they are capable of.

"Andy has impressed me with certain things I didn't think he was capable of.

"I read the statistics, and anyone who is interested in football can tell that Andy is a goalscorer.

"What they can't tell you -- and what I couldn't tell you until I had worked with him -- is that he's got a great touch, control, movement, a leap and there's a certain cuteness about him which I didn't think he had."

Cole opened his Ewood goal-account with a typically predatory finish in the 2-1 Worthington win over Sheffield Wednesday on Tuesday.

And, though he has only played two games for his new club so far, Souness already believes his new signing has brought an extra sharpness to the team in the six-yard box.

"It was the type of goal we haven't been scoring," said Souness.

"We have so much power down the sides and we've been getting a lot of balls pulled across the face of the opposition goal. But we've not had -- what appear to a lot of people to be -- tap-ins like Andy got the other night.

"It wasn't just a tap-in because he had to make sure he got there and he was at full stretch."

Now Souness hopes Cole can fire the goals to lead Rovers out of trouble after watching his side take just three points from a possible 21.

But, despite such a wretched run of form over Christmas, the Ewood chief insists there's still plenty of cause for optimism.

"I feel our football has been good enough to win games or get some points from games," he said.

"Where we've missed out is we've been guilty of making the odd mistake defensively and we've been guilty of missing clear-cut chances.

"I hope now we've got Andy in the team we will take some of these chances we're creating."

In the meantime, Ciccio Grabbi was again left out of today's squad to face Charlton after Souness deemed the player not fit enough to be considered. However, an end to his Ewood nightmare could soon be in sight as a number of clubs remain interested.