STEVE Harkness looks to be on his way to Ewood Park after Blackburn Rovers agreed a £500,000 package deal with Benfica for the former Liverpool left back.

Talks with the player have yet to get under way but Rovers will be reasonably confident of landing a long-time transfer target who is believed to be desperate to return to England from Portugal.

Ewood chief executive John Williams confirmed today that Rovers had settled their negotiations with Benfica, who have been concentrating on selling their British contingent in the wake of manager Graeme Souness's departure.

If the deal goes through, they will pay an initial £400,000 plus add-ons based on appearances and expected to be worth around another £100,000. With most of his long-term injured players on the way back now, Rovers boss Brian Kidd will probably see Harkness as the final piece in the jigsaw for his squad.

He will have cover in every position as he attempts to turn round a calamitous start.

Carlisle-born Harkness, who will celebrate his 28th birthday on Friday, began his career with his hometown club.

He moved to Liverpool 10 years ago and was a regular member of the first team squad before joining Souness at Benfica.

Talks are expected to take place shortly between player and club and there will then be the usual medicals.

There is no reason to suggest at the moment that Rovers cannot tie up a deal in time for Saturday's trip to Norwich. But they would also have to ascertain Harkness's fitness and how much football he has had with Benfica before making a decision on whether to include him in the squad. After Saturday, there is a fortnight's break which would enable a new player to settle in properly.

While Harkness is expected to come in, Derby County boss Jim Smith admitted today that he had some interest in Kevin Gallacher.

Smith is desperately seeking a new striker and there was expected to be an announcement today concerning their hopes of signing Argentinian Fuertes.

The former Rovers boss said he had contemplated a move for Gallacher who could still figure on his list of possible targets and might well see the Scot as an ideal solution to his problems.

Gallacher's contract expires at the end of the season when he will be a free agent but there is not likely to be any shortage of interest in him before then.

Williams said today that Rovers had not received any bids for the player so far but that could easily change, especially after he was left out of Saturday's squad.

Bradford City announced last night that Rovers target Robbie Blake had been taken off the transfer list.

Ewood interest had dwindled in the striker following their signing of Egil Ostenstad and is unlikely to be re-ignited unless the likes of Gallacher and Nathan Blake leave.

Then they would need re-inforcements. City boss Paul Jewell said: "He's been on the transfer list for a month and we haven't had a suitable enough offer. But we're making a statement now by saying he is not going anywhere.

"We're hoping that by doing this we can get rid of all the uncertainty where Robbie is concerned and hoping he can get back to doing what he does best, which is scoring goals.

"Robbie's delighted by this and he now just wants to knuckle down and play for Bradford because he knows he's not been giving his best of late.

"The chairman and I decided the best thing was to tell him categorically he is not leaving the football club.

"Obviously he's been in the squad but he's not been the Robbie Blake we know because the speculation and everything else that goes with it has got to him.

"That's why we took this move to enable everybody to get on with the job."

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