BLACKBURN ROVERS are now confident of landing midfielder Tugay Kerimoglu after he played in both World Cup qualifiers for Turkey last week.

Injuries forced the Rangers player into the international wilderness recently casting a doubt over whether Rovers would be granted a work permit as he had not played in the required number of internationals in the last year, although he has over 60 caps.

Tugay spent most of the last campaign injured or on the fringes of the Rangers team, although was a great favourite with the Ibrox fans. Rovers have agreed personal terms and a fee of £1.3m for him.

"The fact he played in both internationals should aid our claims for a work permit," said Rovers chief executive John Williams.

"Now that the General Election is out of the way, we have a hearing with the Department of Employment in a fortnight and, hopefully, it will go in our favour and Tugay can become a Blackburn Rovers player."

Manager Graeme Souness is a big fan of the Turk, saying: "He's an international player with a lot of experience and I rate him extremely highly.

"He'd give us something I feel we didn't have last year and we'll need in the Premiership."

Meanwhile, while one target seems closer to joining Rovers, one man who will not be part of Souness' revolution is Chelsea midfielder Dennis Wise. Former England international Wise has been constantly linked with a move to Ewood Park, but Williams is tiring of having to deny it.

"We don't know if he is for sale, but if he is, we won't be buying him," said Williams.

"It's true that we came close to signing him last season, but Graeme does not want to pursue his interest in him."

As reported earlier in the week, it also seems unlikely that Souness will be adding loan star Eyal Berkovic to his squad as he would seem to be what the Rovers boss described as "something of a luxury" as he pursues other concrete targets.

Top of his hit list is Italian striker Corrado Grabbi, who is valued at around £5m by his Serie B club Ternana, while Alan Mahon is expected to put pen to paper and seal his £1.5m transfer from Sporting Lisbon when he returns from holiday.

Jason McAteer has also recently been linked with a move to either Manchester City or Celtic. The Republic of Ireland international fell out of favour towards the end of last season, but Williams said that no contact had been made by either club.