THERE was more speculation over Tim Sherwood's future today, as the player's agent Eric "Monster" Hall was at Ewood for a meeting yesterday.

Arsenal are known to have made an inquiry for Sherwood, but have not yet followed that up with a firm bid.

Blackburn Rovers officially confirmed that recently. In contrast, however, I understand that the Rovers skipper could well have been holding talks about a new contract to stay at Ewood in the long term.

Hall would be involved as a matter of course if a new deal was being talked about and that is a very likely reason for his trip to Blackburn.

Though he was not available today to confirm it.

Rovers have put several of their established stars on long-term contracts - a wise move following the Bosman ruling which, in some cases, allows players worth millions to move on for nothing if their contracts expire.

Sherwood has been a cornerstone of the side since the club broke into the Premier League and, of course, skippered them to championship success.

But there has been increasing speculation in recent months about a possible move to London, back to his roots.

I do not believe the player is unhappy at Ewood and Rovers are not looking to sell players, especially to any of their rivals around the top of the Premier League.

Sherwood, also, would not be interested in going to any London club.

He has been linked several times with Chelsea which is a non-starter.

But if Arsenal were to step up their interest, things might change.

Sherwood is midway through a four-year contract he signed in the summer of 1996.

Recently, players such as Colin Hendry, Tim Flowers and Jason Wilcox all sorted out new agreements with the club, tying them to Ewood for several years.

Rovers' youngsters ran up two more victories at the Milk Cup in Northern Ireland yesterday and that should be enough to clinch their passage to the knockout stages of the international youth tournament.

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