MATT Jansen was set to join Blackburn Rovers in a £4 million transfer from cash-strapped Crystal Palace today - taking Brian Kidd's collection of senior strikers to six!

But there has not been any change over Ewood interest in Liverpool's Jason McAteer and Crewe midfielder Seth Johnson, despite reports in today's national newspapers.

The capture of Jansen, however, looked like being completed this afternoon after talks and medicals over the weekend.

And that will pose the inevitable question as to which of the present Ewood strikers will be moving on to accommodate the highly-rated 21-year-old budding star.

The answer to that could be a little while in coming, because of the injury situation and the fact that Jansen is ineligible for the FA Cup.

It has all come down to timing and Rovers have had no control over it.

They have maintained a watching brief on Jansen, tipped as a future England international and on the wanted list of several Premiership clubs, notably Newcastle.

A move for him was anticipated, possibly in the close season. But Palace's financial situation has put the young striker on the market now and it was a case of Rovers having to move quickly if they wanted him.

Jansen's career began with hometown club Carlisle where he made his senior debut in the 1996-97 season.

Soon tipped as a boy wonder, he scored 10 goals in 42 League appearances for the Cumbrian club.

A big-money move to Palace followed last season when he made eight appearances, scoring three goals. This season he is their leading scorer with seven League goals to his credit and former England boss Terry Venables has been fulsome in his praise of a player who has been involved with the national under-21 squad.

Ruud Gullit tried to take him to Newcastle last week but failed to agree a fee with the Selhurst Park club.

Backed by Jack Walker's cash, Kidd is not wasting any time in starting his rebuilding of the squad and Jansen will join Keith Gillespie and Ashley Ward as a trio of new signings.

It's almost like the old days under Kenny Dalglish!

At least one striker, possibly two, will surely be on the move out - though Rovers continue to insist that Chris Sutton will not be leaving.

If that is the case there are then question marks over players like Kevin Davies, Nathan Blake and Kevin Gallacher. But the club do not seem in any hurry to sell.

Sebastien Perez could still become the first major departure but Rovers are waiting for Marseille to follow up last week's talks about a £3 million move. Meanwhile, there is Ewood interest in McAteer and Johnson and has been for some time but there have not been any concrete moves for either player.

Liverpool would sell McAteer though that situation seems to have cooled, while Crewe claim they want to hold onto all their players until the relegation fight is resolved.

Rovers will lose another midfield man, Billy McKinlay, for the next Premiership game against Spurs. He joins Tim Sherwood in being banned after collecting his fifth booking of the season at Derby. Meanwhile, Kidd asked his players to respond in the right way to the first defeat in eight games since he came to Ewood.

"I can't complain about the way the lads have performed in the last few weeks, they have stuck at it," he said.

"Now the next challenge is how we respond to that defeat.

"We had a couple of chances, sometimes they go in, sometimes they don't but I thought we were worth a point."

Goalkeeper John Filan held his place in the side, despite Tim Flowers' return to the squad and the Aussie believes Kidd will give him a chance to prove he can be number one.

He also took a swipe at Roy Hodgson and underlined the new spirit in the camp.

"You just ask for a fair crack of the whip," he said. "The last manager did not stick by me when I was doing well and that was hard to swallow.

"Before Roy Hodgson left the club was not a nice place to be any more. The place was on a real downer.

"All of a sudden there's a better spirit and belief.

"Now the boys are playing again and I think that has shown in our performances. There's more steel about us and the manager has the full respecvt of the team."

Rovers Reserves give a number of senior player a chance of much-needed match practice against Liverpool at Ewood tonight (kick-off 7pm).

The squad is: Flowers, Perez, Croft, Peacock, Taylor, Konde, Corbett, Dunn, Fitzpatrick, Duff, Thomas, Coughlan, Worrell, Hamilton, Richardson, Stewart.

The Academy under-19 team drew 1-1 at Crewe with a goal from Paddy Connolly, but the under-17s went down 1-0.

Yesterday's News of the World claimed a "world exclusive" interview with Tim Sherwood on his thoughts about Roy Hodgson . . . the day AFTER our readers were given the real exclusive in the Lancashire Evening Telegraph.

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