BLACKBURN boss Graeme Souness today reiterated his desire to buy British as he looks to beef up his squad ahead of the big kick-off next month.

Ewood chief Souness wants to bring in two more new faces before Rovers' Premiership campaign gets under way against Derby County at Pride Park on August 18.

And, though he continues to scour the European market for top foreign talent, he has stressed his intention to add more British steel to his squad if the right opportunities arise.

"Ideally, I'd like to bring in a couple of British players," said Souness.

"I don't mind signing foreign players but if I was to bring any more in then they'd have to have experience of British football.

"Obviously, we've taken Corrado Grabbi from Italy, who has no experience of playing in England, but I feel he can adapt.

"And then there's Tugay but he has already proved his quality, both at international level and during his time with Rangers.

"So, ideally, the other two players I want to bring in will be British -- but that's not always possible."

Souness has made a right-sided midfielder and a left-sided defender -- who can play both in the centre or at fullback -- his top priorities.

And he is hopeful there could be positive developments on at least one of those fronts early next week.

"We are currently pursuing a couple of things but there's nothing happening as we speak," said Souness.

"We have contacted a number of teams about particular players so the ball's now in their court and we are waiting for them to get back to us." Meanwhile, reserve boss Terry Darracott has been lined up for a new role in Souness's backroom staff as part of a summer shake-up by the Ewood chief.

The former Everton defender is set to become the club's new chief scout in place of Alan Murray, who will take up Darracott's old post as part of a job swap.

"Terry's had some problems with his knees and he's been advised by his specialist that, if he keeps doing what he's doing, then it's only going to make things worse," said Souness.

"So we've decided it will be better if he swaps roles with Alan and takes over scouting responsibilities instead of having to take training every day.

"Because the reserves don't play on Saturdays Terry was watching a lot of games for us last season anyway and I respect his judgement.

"So this seemed to be the ideal solution. "We have a very settled ship on the coaching side and we didn't want to unsettle things by bringing someone else in from outside.

"It's not as if Alan isn't qualified for the reserve team job anyway because he's probably got more coaching qualifications than the rest of us put together.

"So he'll now be in the charge of the reserves and I'm perfectly happy with that situation."

Elsewhere, keeper Alan Kelly still has several issues to resolve with Rovers before he can complete a £600,000 move to Tottenham.

The Republic of Ireland international has already met Spurs boss Glenn Hoddle for talks.

But his switch to White Hart Lane now hinges on a meeting with Ewood officials next Tuesday.

"I liked what I heard from Tottenham," said Kelly.

"I've spoken to Glenn Hoddle very briefly, he's obviously got a good reputation in the game and he was a quality player himself.

"So it would be nice to work with someone like that.

"But it's still subject to a couple of issues at the Blackburn end which need to be resolved so I don't want to say any more until then."