BLACKBURN Rovers boss Sam Allardyce may be prepared to wait until August 31 in his bid to sign a proven goalscorer.

Rovers are thought to have a summer transfer budget of around £13m and, although they have already spent approximately £4m in transfer fees to bring in Gael Givet and Steven N’Zonzi, no more transfers are expected until a striker has been secured.

Allardyce, who has started to look overseas for a replacement for the departed Roque Santa Cruz, is keen to use his budget to sign the highest quality player available.

And, although he would like to have a new forward on board in time for the first game of the season on August 15, he is realistic that he may have to wait until transfer deadline day - four league matches into the campaign - for prices to tumble.

“You’ll see it build and build until August 30 again and that’s when it goes into mayhem and mad city,” said Allardyce, who takes his squad to Austria tomorrow for a week-long training camp.

“I don’t want to be involved at the back end of August if I can help it but that’s when actually they don’t get more expensive, they get an awful lot cheaper.

“So we may have to, but I hope not.”

Allardyce, who has indicated that Ruud van Nistelrooy would interest him if the Real Madrid striker was prepared to take a pay cut, is not ruling out bringing in an experienced front man.

But, with current strikers Jason Roberts and Benni McCarthy, both 31 years of age, he may be tempted to opt for a player who has not yet reached his peak.

He said: “It’s going to be the most crucial decision I make this season, because while we’ve got two very experienced Premier League strikers in Jason and Benni, they are the only two front men with goals in them we have.

FROM BACK PAGE “Dioufy can play up there but he’s not a goalscorer and obviously we know Chris Samba can play up there if we need him to but he’s not going to score that many goals.

“We want a front man who is going to make a big contribution.

“I think we will have to explore all areas. That particular area of experienced ones but also we have to explore somebody who is going to be risky but a calculated risk we have to take on a younger striker if there’s one there.

“If we find one that bit younger, we’re putting them in place for not just next season but for many seasons to come because it’s not too far away with Benni and Jason moving into their 30s that we would have to replace those players.

“Hopefully not next season or the season after that, but with your strikers moving into their 30s now means you have to get somebody to come and back them up.”

Many of the forwards Rovers have been linked with have been traditional target men but, despite losing the aerial ability of Santa Cruz, Allardyce says he is not restricting his search to that type of striker.

He said: “I think you can’t be putting a specific type of centre forward you would want because now you are going to limit yet again the availability out there.

“If you say ‘I only want a big man’, then you’re going to knock 50 per cent of the strikers off the list straight away.

“I think he has to have the qualities that are needed to compete at the highest level as well as the desire and the goalscoring ability.

“It’s that type of player I’m looking for. Whether that’s 5ft 10in or 6ft 3in, that wouldn’t particularly worry me “If the quality of the player is better than what we’ve got and is better than what we’ve got, then if he’s small, medium or large, I’ll go and get him.”