TURKISH midfield ace Tugay will commit his long-term future to Blackburn Rovers by signing an extension to his contract early next week.

I can reveal Rovers have exercised an option to keep the former Rangers man at Ewood for an extra year after he attracted interest from a number of clubs on the back of his performances for Turkey at the World Cup.

And, subject to a few formalities being sorted out, an agreement should be sealed in the next seven days when his agent meets up with Rovers chief executive John Williams.

News of the deal is sure to be welcomed by fans who have taken the Turk to their hearts since he joined the club from Ibrox at the start of last summer.

And in a further show of commitment from the 32-year-old playmaker, he has also promised to quit international football following Turkey's European Championship qualifiers with England next year which will leave him to concentrate on his Blackburn career.

"It's all agreed in principle and Tugay and his agent will be meeting with John Williams next week to formally sign everything," revealed Rovers boss Graeme Souness.

Tugay is delighted to be putting his signature to a deal which will keep him at Ewood until the summer of 2004 because he is excited by the potential of the current squad.

"What this means is I'm very happy at Blackburn," said the classy midfielder.

"I feel we are ready to play at the top of the league.

"We have an excellent squad which is improving all the time and that is the reason why I want to extend my contract. I'm very happy here."

News of Tugay's impending international retirement has also been welcomed with open arms by Souness.

Throughout his time at Ewood, the midfield star has been an integral part of the Turkish national team and the extra travelling that entails has had a knock-on effect in regard to his Premiership form at times.

So Souness was delighted to hear that he will soon be focusing all his energies into playing for Rovers and he believes that can only benefit the rest of the team.

"That can only be good news for us," said Souness.

"He's 32 now and at that stage in your career, all the travelling and the extra games international football entails obviously starts to take its toll on your body."

Meanwhile, Souness plans to accelerate Matt Jansen's recovery from injury by playing him in a specially arranged behind-closed-doors friendly with Nottingham Forest next week.

Jansen made his long-awaited comeback from injury this week when he played 70 minutes for the reserves against Everton on Tuesday night.

And, though Souness was also set to name him on the bench against Newcastle today, he is aware that the 24-year-old needs games in order to get himself back up to speed in readiness for the Premiership.

"We were all very, very nervous and worried for Matt at one point but that was a few months ago and since then we've been aware that he would get back and it's just a case of time for him now," said Souness.

"He's in the clear now. Any player can get a head injury but particularly strikers who are generally playing against big, aggressive men at the back and spend most of the time facing the wrong way to where they want to be.

"So being a striker is a physical position in which to play but we've no fears for Matt otherwise he wouldn't be anywhere near a football field.

"We have an excellent medical team here and they assure us that he has no problems at all so it's just a case of him getting his fitness back as well as that bit of confidence.

"But lashing a goal in as he did against Everton the other night can only help him in that respect.

"Having said that, he's far from ready for playing 90 minutes yet and it's important I emphasise that."