BLACKBURN Rovers today strongly denied that Middlesbrough had made any approach for winger Stuart Ripley, following another bout of speculation in the national Press.

One tabloid claimed Boro boss Bryan Robson had targeted Ripley in his attempts to make the Teesside club strong enough to hold onto a Premiership place after winning promotion.

And it said the winger was "ready to pack his bags for home" and rejoin his hometown club in a £1 million deal.

It is an annual story that crops up virtually every summer and Ripley himself has stressed in the past that he has been embarrassed by such speculation.

Ewood chief executive John Williams commented: "We have definitely not had any approach from Middlesbrough.

"With Stuart coming from the North East, I suppose it might have been Sunderland mentioned if they had managed to win promotion yesterday."

Boro have lost their only major wide man in Craig Hignett, who turned down a new contract offer to join Aberdeen.

But a source close to the Riverside club said: "It would be a surprise if there was anything in the story.

"Boro are interested in another former player Gary Pallister at Manchester United and there has been plenty of talk about that. "But Ripley's name has not been mentioned."

Robson, who has had a substantial bid rejected for West Brom's left winger Kevin Kilbane, has not operated with two wide men during his time in charge on Teesside.

Rovers are known to be prepared to sell some of their fringe players with Norwegian side Brann showing interest in Tore Pedersen.

Having paid £500,000 for the much-capped international defender only in September, however, they would expect to get their money back if he was to move on this summer.

There have not been any inquiries for other players who might be available.

And there has not been any suggestion they want to part with any first team regulars such as Ripley.

They want to strengthen, in fact, and their interest in Atalanta central defender Nicola Boselli remains high.

Rovers are also keeping check on the position of another Italian, striker Carmine Esposito, whose goalscoring record for Empoli in Serie A last season has attaracted a lot of interest.

I understand there is a lot of work going on behind the scenes to make significant progress on the transfer front. As yet, however, it still has to come to fruition.

Meanwhile, Kevin Gallacher remains a major doubt for Scotland's second American tour game, against the USA in Washington on Saturday.

The Rovers striker had to sit out the 2-2 draw with Colombia in New Jersey after going down with a stomach problem.

In fact, he has lost five pounds in five days suffering from the after-effects of eating a prawn sandwich!

His absence is a big problem for Scottish coach Craig Brown, who sees Gallacher as his main striking weapon at the World Cup finals.

And there are also doubts about Gordon Durie, who tweaked a hamstring in the Colombia game.

Brown is expected to opt for a partnership of Gallacher and Durie when the Scots open the World Cup finals against Brazil - provided both are fit.

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