BLACKBURN boss Graeme Souness today admitted defeat in his attempts to land Middlesbrough striker Brian Deane.

Ewood chief Souness has been chasing the 6ft 3in hit-man all summer in a bid to beef-up his strike-force ahead of the new season.

But Rovers have been left stunned by Middlesbrough's whopping £4million valuation of a player who turned 32 earlier this year.

And they will now switch their attentions to a number of other targets after refusing to be held to ransom with the big kick-off less than a week away.

"Their valuation is way beyond what we value the player at," said Souness.

"So there's nothing happening on that now and there's not likely to be anything on that in the future either.

"We won't be going back in for him at that level."

Rovers were willing to pay Middlesbrough around £1.5million for Deane, who they signed from Benfica for £3m two years ago.

But Boro boss Bryan Robson wants to recoup some of the £10m he has splashed out on seven new signings over the summer.