KUQI TALKS

Representatives of the Finnish international, who recently quit Ipswich Town, were at Ewood yesterday to discuss the possibility of the player joining Rovers on a free transfer.

As yet, the club have not made a firm offer for the 28-year-old, but Hughes may push through a deal for the former Stockport and Sheffield Wednesday star in the next few days.

Rovers' chief executive John Williams said today: "Mark is interested in Shefki because he feels he could give us something different.

"We have spoken to his people but we have not made an offer as yet."

Hughes is desperate to boost his striking options and his plan is to sign two forwards this summer if possible.

He is still pursuing a number of more high profile targets and he hopes to land a proven goalscorer before the season kicks off in August.

In the meantime, the opportunity to snap up Kuqi on a free is also something he is interested in doing as he believes the powerful frontman could give him a different option up front next season.

Kuqi has had a trail spell at Rovers once before, but Graeme Souness decided he wasn't what he was looking for at the time.

Since then, though, Kuqi has gone on to be a big success at Ipswich, for whom he scored 22 goals in the Championship last season.

The player himself is keen on a move to Rovers, but if he ends up getting a deal then it's likely to be heavily performance based.

Ideally, Hughes would like to add three - or possibly four - new faces to his squad this summer but with finances tight, he will have to work prudently in the transfer market, which is why Kuqi is an attractive option as the second of the two strikers he is looking for.

The Rovers chief said: "I think we're probably looking at three or four new faces if possible.

"We're already in good shape but we recently let Jon Stead go so we have to address the striker situation and that's what we are trying to concentrate on at the moment, then we'll see what happens after that."