BLACKBURN boss Graeme Souness today played down talk of a move for Liverpool striker Robbie Fowler.

Fresh reports in the weekend tabloids claimed Rovers are ready to make a club-record swoop for the England international whose future at Anfield looks bleaker by the week.

But, though Souness is clearly a big admirer of his former protege, Fowler's name has never been discussed at boardroom level by Rovers.

And the Ewood chief was quick to dismiss the latest reports as 'rumours' when tackled about it in the wake of Rovers' 1-1 draw at Ipswich.

"That's exactly what they are, rumours, and that's all I want to say on the matter," said Souness.

Rovers are just one of a number of clubs to be linked with the Anfield ace over the last six month following his public fall out with Liverpool chief Gerard Houllier.

It was Souness who first gave Fowler his big break at Anfield after plucking him out of the reserves and the pair have retained a mutual respect ever since.

But whether or not Rovers would become interested if Liverpool finally agreed to let him go remains to be seen.

Souness would have to smash the club's transfer record and the player's wage demands would shatter the Ewood pay structure as he is currently believed to be on around £35,000 a week.

But Fowler boasts one of the deadliest goalscoring records in the business and Souness has repeatedly stressed the need to start taking chances over the last few weeks after watching his side fritter away precious Premiership points.

However, Aston Villa and Chelsea are also thought to be monitoring his situation closely and if Fowler eventually does become available it's likely to spark one of the biggest transfer scrambles for years.