£10m deal for Sutton

The clubs agreed the deal over the weekend and it comes within range of what Rovers had insisted they would demand once Su1tton had triggered the clause in his contract allowing him to leave.

They could have held out for £12 million, under the terms of the clause, but made it clear some time ago that, as long as they received a realistic bid, they would be prepared to talk.

Now it is down to the player and the Stamford Bridge club to see if they can thrash out a personal deal.

I understand Sutton travelled South yesterday and, if personal terms are agreed and the usual medicals successful, then he could be a Chelsea player soon.

Ewood chief executive John Williams would only say today: "We have given permission for a club to enter into discussions with Chris Sutton."

He would not comment on any other aspects of the deal but it is obvious that permission would not have been granted unless a fee had been agreed between the clubs.

And impeccable sources say that it is in the region of £10 million.

If the transfer is completed it will represent a double-your-money deal for Rovers, who paid Norwich £5 million for the striker, now aged 26, in the summer of 1994.

That was a record between two British clubs at the time and Norwich are also set for another windfall.

Under the terms of the deal when they sold him to Rovers, Norwich are due to a share of any profit over £6.75 million. They are expected to pick up around £500,000 if Sutton signs. At Ewood he formed the feared SAS strike partnership with Alan Shearer which spearheaded Rovers' charge to the championship in his first full season.

Since then, he has had a couple of seasons dogged by injury, notably the last campaign when Sutton's absence for much of the year was probably a major factor in the club's relegation.

All told, including substitute appearances, he has played in 130 Premiership games for Rovers, scoring 48 League goals.

Chelsea have long been one of the favourites expected to be in the forefront of the Sutton chase, once it became known that he wanted to leave Ewood.

When he signed his latest long-term contract, taking him to 2003, in November 97 he had the get-out clause inserted.

During the second half of last season, the player insisted he would be staying at Ewood no matter what happened to the club in the battle to beat the drop.

But relegation, and the risk to his international hopes under new boss Kevin Keegan, were probably major factors in his about-turn.

Rovers will not exactly be jumping for joy at losing yet another major star, following in the footsteps of so many others. But if everything is completed soon, at least they will be happy that it will not have developed into a saga.

Manager Brian Kidd has already stressed that he only wants players on board who are fully committed to the cause.

At the moment, there are no other clubs on the scene and, having granted Chelsea permission to talk terms, Rovers are not in the business of playing one club off against another.

But it is possible that, with a benchmark fee now having been set, others might show an interest.

After finally showing their hand, however, Chelsea will hope to wrap things up quickly to avoid any such complications.

Even though Sutton now appears to be on his way and Rovers are set to shed Martin Dahlin after making an offer to pay up his contract, they still have plenty of senior strikers such as Ashley Ward, Matt Jansen, Kevin Davies, Kevin Gallacher and Nathan Blake.

But there could be a possibility of other exits and, maybe, a new man coming in.

Meanwhile, Rovers today dismissed continuing speculation that they are about to make a cut-price move for Colin Hendry.

The ex-Ewood hero, now with Rangers, is not fit at the moment anyway. He is recovering from groin surgery and is not expected to be ready to play again until after the season is under way.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.