STEPHEN Warnock knows Sam Allardyce will have his work cut out replacing Roque Santa Cruz if the striker departs for Manchester City in the next few days.

City, who have already made four bids for Santa Cruz in the last 12 months, are understood to be keen to wrap up a £15m deal for the Paraguayan before Mark Hughes goes on holiday on Thursday.

Santa Cruz was scheduled to return from holiday himself yesterday and Warnock expects Rovers to have a tough task attempting to keep him.

Hughes brought Santa Cruz to Rovers from Bayern Munich for just £3.5m during his time in charge at Ewood but Warnock understands that such bargain buys are a rarity.

“It is going to be difficult to keep Roque,” he said.

“He has stated he wants a new challenge where he could possibly play Champions League football and he has more than proved himself in the Premier League.

“He is a player I admire tremendously and I think he is a fantastic player.

“Mark Hughes did a great job of finding bargain players but it is very hard to keep on doing that.”

Warnock swept the board at Rovers’ end-of-season player of the year awards and is optimistic that Allardyce can mastermind a challenge for a Europa League spot next season, having guided the club away from the relegation zone in the second half of 2008/09.

“We have got to be looking to push on for Europe,” said Warnock.

“Our form in the second half of the season showed that.”