Peter White reports

KEVIN Davies today revealed that his burning ambitions to win trophies and play for England were the main reasons behind his record-breaking move to Blackburn Rovers.

The 21-year-old striker today completed his £7.25 million move from Southampton.

He said: "It's too early to talk about pressure. The fee is quite irrelevant, it's what I do on the pitch and for my fans and family that matters.

"I am here to be successful for Blackburn and for myself and hopefully over the seven years I will be picking up some medals and silverware.

"Hopefully it will also help me as far as England is concerned."

Was it a difficult decision for the 21-year-old?

"Yes it was difficult because I have only been at Southampton for a year. But I enjoyed my time there and now I am looking to further my career and that's why I have signed.

"Coming to Blackburn with a top class manager and good players around me I will have an even better chance of playing for England.

"I am looking towards the European Championships in 2000.

"I am quite confident in myself. I played against a few Premiership clubs in the Cup runs and, last season, I enjoyed playing in the Premier League against some of the top players in the world."

Rovers have shattered their transfer record by completing the signing but bought the 21-year-old striker for a knockdown price! For Saints' original asking price is believed to have been as much as £8.5 million for one of the Premiership's hottest young properties.

Ewood chief executive John Williams would only say that negotiations between the clubs were "protracted and lengthy".

But I understand from good sources that the clubs were initially a long way apart before hard bargaining by Rovers brought the price down.

And the cash they saved will be useful as more transfers are expected before too long.

Atalanta central defender Nicola Boselli remains a distinct possibility and I can reveal that talks have also been held with another defender - Frenchman Sebastian Perez.

A full back with Bastia, Perez has been to Blackburn for discussions but no deal has yet been finalised.

Roy Hodgson said: "We wanted to improve from the top rather than from the bottom.

"A top class striker was a priority and Kevin Davies was always our primary target. We think he has the right profile, he's the right age and the right size.

"He also had the profile we were looking for. Southampton were very unwilling to lose their prize asset without a fight but the fee is of less interest to me than it is perhaps to John Williams and Jack Walker.

"It's a hard thing for a player to carry it around but you have to put transfer fees into perspective.

"We have signed a young player and we could be paying three to five million pounds for a 32-year-old who could be leaving in a year or two." As Davies arrived at Ewood today, there were suggestions in Southampton that the Dell club had negotiated a big 'sell-on' clause in the deal. But they are exaggerated.

What has happened is that Rovers have agreed to concede a very small percentage of any future sell-on fee which tops £10 million - I understand the figure is just 10 per cent.

And Davies will not be earning the £1 million a year salary that has also been quoted in the national Press. Ewood players are very highly paid, like most of the Premiership.

But I have it on very good authority that speculation of £20,000 a week is way too high.

The deal took some time to thrash out with Southampton, who were reluctant to part with one of their biggest assets.

But chief executive John Williams revealed today that it didn't take long for Davies to agree terms.

"He always wanted to come and that was the important thing," said Mr Williams.

"He was our number one striker target and he was very keen to join us."

The decision to pay such a big fee for a young player underlines Rovers' ambitions and Mr Williams stressed the point.

"We are already a big club and we are going to get bigger," he said.

"We think we have paid the right amount of money. The best deals are when both parties are happy and we are certainly happy with it. "It also says something about our strategy.

"We have 14 or 15 players in the squad who are under contract until 2001. Tim Sherwood and Damien Duff are contracted to 2003, Chris Sutton to 2004 and of the last three signings Callum Davidson has signed until 2004 and Jim Corbett and Kevin Davies until 2005.

"That says something not only about our immediate ambitions to achieve success but about our long-term aims to maintain it."

Davies first broke into League football with Chesterfield, after starting as a trainee at Saltergate.

He played in 129 League games for the club, scoring 22 goals, and was one of their FA Cup heroes as they went all the way to the semi-finals in 1997.

Several clubs were interested but it was Southampton, with Graeme Souness then at the helm, who took the plunge and paid £750,000 for the young striker.

In his first Premiership season, he made quite an impact, despite struggling with an ankle injury sustained early in the New Year. Altogether, he made 24 League and Cup starts for Southampton, plus six more appearances as a substitute and scored 12 goals.

Tim Flowers was celebrating his World Cup call-up today, completing a splendid double as he was part of the England squad which did well at Euro 96.

As expected, Ian Walker was the odd man out of the keeper quartet who completed England's preparations.

Flowers makes it four Rovers players in France, joining the three Scots, Colin Hendry, Kevin Gallacher and Billy McKinlay.

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