BLACKBURN boss Graeme Souness today spoke of his frustration in the transfer market as he struggles to sign the players he wants in preparation for next season.

So far this summer, Souness's only foray into the market has seen Paul Dickov join the club in a cut-price £150,000 deal from Leicester.

The Rovers chief also wants Norwegian winger Morten Gamst Pedersen and Leeds United's Dominic Matteo but he fears a lack of spending power is now likely to scupper both deals.

"I've been told I've no money to spend so the reality is we are in the market for free transfers and Bosmans," said Souness.

"Before we can sign new players I've been told I've got to get people out of the door.

"We might be able to take one or two people on free transfers but that's probably going to be the extent of our summer signings, and it's important our public know that.

"We've just got to do the best we can with what's available."

Souness had hoped to end his search for a left-sided midfield player by bringing in the highly-rated Pedersen from Tromso but he has now conceded that deal looks dead in the water.

"Pedersen is too expensive for us so it looks like we won't be buying him," said the Rovers boss.

The Scot had also hoped to snap up Matteo on a free but that move also looks unlikely, too, because the club are struggling to meet the player's personal demands.

If Souness ends up missing out on both targets, it will come as a major blow to his plans because he felt he needed to bring in four new players to freshen up a squad which flirted dangerously with relegation for much of last season.

Falling attendances and the team's failure to beat Birmingham on the final day of last season - which cost them two places and an extra £1 million in possible transfer revenue - have had an adverse effect on the size of the manager's transfer kitty.

There was one piece of good news for Souness yesterday, though, as Tugay finally put pen to paper on a new one-year contract, as we revealed in our later editions.

That means all three of the players who were out of contract at the end of last season -- Tugay, Craig Short and Jonathon Douglas -- have now agreed new terms with Rovers.

"I'm very happy about that," said Souness.

"Tugay has been an outstanding performer in the years he has been with us."