EWOOD chief executive John Williams today denied reports linking Rovers with an 11th hour swoop for Norwegian starlet John Arne Riise.

A couple of stories in today's tabloids had suggested Rovers boss Graeme Souness was about to join the race for the highly-rated Monaco midfielder.

But Williams has poured cold water on those theories -- leaving the way clear for Liverpool and Fulham to battle it out for his services.

"I've heard we've been linked with him but his name has never been mentioned to me by the manager," said Williams.

The speculation started after we exclusively revealed earlier in the week that Souness was jetting out to Scandinavian to run the rule over a couple of targets playing for the Norwegian Under 21s.

But Riise was not among the players on his hit-list and the Rovers boss has now decided not to pursue his interest in any of the players on view.

"Graeme was invited over to have a look at a couple of people and he said it was an interesting game," said Williams.

"And he thought, with some of them having already played in the Premier League over there for a number of years, there might be someone he could pick up who we could develop even further.

"But, for the time being at least, we will not be pursuing our interest any further."

Riise, meanwhile, is now likely to sign for Fulham in the next few days after being granted permission by Monaco to talk to other clubs.

"We have waited a long time for this and now we can start negotiations with Fulham," said the player.

"But what club I sign for doesn't really matter, I just want to play more football.

"I know of two other English Premier League clubs that are interested.

"The clubs still have to agree on a fee and I am hopeful that something will be sorted but I don't expect anything."