BLACKBURN Rovers have been forced to admit defeat in their bid to land Australian international Brett Emerton.

Ewood chief Graeme Souness had identified the versatile wide-man as one of his top summer transfer targets after first watching the 22-year-old star for his country in a friendly against Scotland last year.

But, despite continued interest from a clutch of top Premiership clubs including Liverpool, Leeds and Arsenal as well as Rovers, his Dutch club Feyenoord can not be persuaded to part with one of the brightest young talents on the continent.

"We made our initial interest known and we understand there are stacks of other clubs who would be interested in signing him as well," said Rovers chief executive John Williams.

"But his club have made it clear that they don't want to sell him so that would appear to be the end of it for now."

Souness had earmarked the player -- who is rated in the £6 million bracket -- for a role on the right hand side of midfield after watching him in person at the end of last season during a couple of special scouting missions to Holland.

But the Rovers boss will now have to switch his attentions elsewhere as he looks to bolster his squad ahead of the big kick-off next month.

A wide midfielder and a left-back remain his top priorities as he looks to add to the trio of signings he has already made.

And there could be further developments early next week with Souness said to be making progress on a couple of fronts.