SWANSEA City manager John Hollins confirmed today that he wanted Blackburn Rovers' young striker James Thomas to solve his attacking dilemma.

But, while the 20-year-old Welshman is in demand, there are still no signs of any real movement for transfer-listed goalkeeper Tim Flowers, despite apparent interest from Leicester City and Sheffield Wednesday.

Hollins, as we reported on Saturday, is desperate to add a striker to his Third Division squad and he is about to make an approach to Ewood to see if Thomas is available.

Rovers boss Brian Kidd still has an abundance of senior attacking players on his staff in the shape of Ashley Ward, Matt Jansen, Kevin Gallacher, Kevin Davies and Nathan Blake, so Thomas might be seen as surplus to requirements - for the moment at least.

And the club might be prepared to talk about a deal for the Wales under-21 player. Though many people at Ewood still regard him very highly.

Swansea came in for him during last season but he was injured at the time so nothing came of it.

Thomas, a Swansea lad, has never played a senior competitive game for Rovers but he showed a lot of potential in the youth and reserve teams as he developed alongside James Beattie.

As Kidd has not really seen much of him, because of injury problems last season, perhaps a compromise might be an extended loan deal. That would give the player, who had a previous spell on loan to West Brom, valuable first team experience while still giving him the chance to develop.

Flowers, meanwhile, can only sit and wait to see if a club comes in for him.

Leicester, tipped as favourites, are now down to one senior keeper after Kasey Keller's contract expired and he is in America at the moment.

Filbert Street boss Martin O'Neill was due back from holiday today, so there could be movement soon as he is expected to search for a new number one to replace Keller.

Leicester's chief scout Jim Melrose, who played with Flowers at Wolves, is believed to have recommended the 32-year-old England keeper to the club.

One problem for Leicester could be Flowers' wage package but, with the keeper desperate for first team football, he might be prepared to accept less money than he is on at Ewood.

Sheffield Wednesday could also be interested as they have only two senior keepers in Pavel Srnicek and Kevin Pressman, with the latter expected to leave Hillsborough before the new season starts.

Owls boss Danny Wilson is understood to be an admirer of Flowers and, if Pressman does move on, it could spark some genuine interest.

The keeper, who has a hip injury, stayed behind for treatment at Brockhall yesterday when a 22-strong Rovers squad left for their pre-season Scandinavian trip. They arrived at their Norwegian base last night and immediately began preparing for tomorrow's game against IFK Gothenburg in the small coastal resort of Grebbestad about halfway between Rovers' training camp and the Swedish city.

"We'll have a full day's training today before travelling to the match tomorrow," said Kidd this morning.

"I am looking at the three games we have arranged as training matches.

"We aren't going to take too much out of anybody and they will probably all get a game at some stage."

Rovers have two young players away on international duty at the moment in defenders Peter Murphy (Eire) and Peter McCann (N Ireland).

Eric Kinder has joined the Rovers youth coaching staff on a part-time basis.

Kinder, who has been involved with Preston North End at various levels for some time, has accepted a position on the schoolboy coaching side with his hometown club.

In winter, he also contributes a special coaching column to the Lancashire Evening Telegraph's weekly Sport Extra publication.

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