STEVE Kean believes only Demba Ba can rival Yakubu as the Premier League’s bargain of the season – insisting that the Blackburn Rovers striker must now be worth close to £10m.

Yakubu needed only 15 minutes to score on his return from suspension on Saturday and help Rovers to a crucial 3-2 win over relegation rivals QPR.

Rovers snapped up the 29-year-old for only £1.5m from Everton in August but the forward has now netted 14 times for his new club this season.

And Kean believes that puts Yakubu alongside Ba, who has stolen the headlines by scoring 17 goals for Newcastle since joining the Magpies on a free transfer, as the best buy of the season.

“I think it’s probably been the Yak and Demba Ba,” the Rovers boss said.

“When you add together what those two have cost in comparison to some other strikers, then they have been the bargains of the season.

“Both have done really well. The mark of a goalscorer is his goal ratio, it’s not really how many games but how many chances does he get to score goals?

“If you look back at the goals the Yak’s scored this season, he’s not missed too many.

“He’s missed a few but normally when he gets a chance he hits the target.

“His chances to goal ratio would be right amongst the best.

“I would certainly think for him and Demba Ba it would be very hard to get change out of tens of millions.

“That’s what people who put the ball in the back of the net cost.”

Rovers signed Yakubu on a contract that will last until the summer of 2014, putting them in a strong position to bat away advances when clubs made their interest in the striker known in January.

QPR were among those clubs, although Yakubu has since revealed that he had no desire to leave Ewood Park in any case.

“There was absolutely no chance of us letting him go,” Kean said.

“There was interest, interest from some very big clubs, but the Yak’s happy to get his head down here.

“I think he’s been exceptional since he’s been here. We showed faith in bringing him here and he’s led the line really well.

“He’ll go on to be a great player for us for years to come.

“I don’t know why it didn’t work out for him at Everton.

“What we’ve done is given him the opportunity to start games and get back into the Premier League, and he’s more than showed he’s capable of playing week in week out.

“I think you’ve got to think about what his attributes are and we just like to keep him the width of the box and get other people to do a little bit of the chasing in the wider areas.

“If you can get quality service into him, there’s no better finisher.”

David Dunn missed Saturday’s game with a calf problem and Junior Hoilett limped off early in the second half, but Kean expects neither injury to prove serious.

“David failed a fitness test on Friday before training where he was feeling a little tug at the side of his calf,” he said.

“Junior had a kick in the calf, so it’s not a muscle tear, it’s just a dead calf.”

Jason Lowe, however, will be suspended for Rovers’ trip to Manchester City game on February 25 and the home match against Aston Villa a week later after picking up his 10th booking of the season.