RAY Harford is hoping he has come up with a potential cure for Blackburn Rovers' lingering problems down the left flank - by signing Niklas Gudmundsson from Halmstads BK.

The Swedish international is on his way to Ewood from the Far East, where he has had a short holiday after the end of his club's domestic season.

And he will sign an extended loan deal for Rovers later this week after completing the usual medical tests.

They will have an option to purchase the wide man when the loan runs out before the start of the next Swedish season in Spring, at a cost of around £1 million.

Even though it is initially only a loan, medical formalities have to be completed for insurance purposes. But personal terms have been settled with the player and the clubs have also agreed a provisional deal.

Gudmundsson, in his early 20s, has made a big impact in Sweden this year and has been a regular member of the national squad.

He played against England in the Umbro Cup at Elland Road in June, when Terry Venables' side rescued a 3-3 draw with two late goals.

Gudmundsson, in fact, featured in all three of Sweden's games in that tournament, starting in the 2-2 draw with Japan and going on as a substitute for Jonas Thern in their 1-0 defeat by Brazil.

More recently, he has played in Sweden's European Championships qualifying campaign and scored two goals for Halmstads in their European Cup Winners Cup first leg victory over crack Italian outfit Parma.

Halmstads were one of the front-runners throughout the Swedish domestic season when Gothenburg again won the championship. Gudmundsson's club finished third, above Malmo, five points adrift of the champions and just one behind runners-up Helsingborg.

Rovers have had a major problem down the left-hand side ever since Jason Wilcox suffered his cruciate ligament injury before the start of the title run-in.

The balance of the team was badly affected and the situation was compounded when Graeme Le Saux had a lengthy injury absence.

Harford has scoured this country in a bid to sign a suitable replacement for Wilcox.

He will not be back in contention at first team level for some time yet, following further surgery to remove several cysts from the same knee.

And he has also checked on players abroad.

The outstanding Marc Overmars at Ajax is not for sale at the moment and Rovers looked at Feyenoord's Regi Blinker.

Now the Rovers boss will be hoping Gudmundsson can turn up trumps and solve a long-standing problem.

Although Patrik Andersson's move to Ewood didn't work out, the long and short term success of other Scandinavians such as Henning Berg and Lars Bohinen gives hope that Harford could have hit on a winner.

There is keen competition for places in Sweden's national squad on the left flank, with the likes of Gothenburg's young star Jesper Blomqvist around.

Meanwhile, Harford has to face his "usual" midweek problem at Leeds tomorrow night - finding a replacement for Lars Bohinen who is inelgible for the Coca-Cola Cup clash at Elland Road.

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