SAM Allardyce will not be asking too much too soon from Blackburn Rovers’ summer imports as he looks to avoid turning them into the latest Premier League flops.

Nikola Kalinic, Michel Salgado, Steven Nzonzi and Elrio van Heerden have all arrived at Ewood Park with no Premier League experience, but Allardyce has warned none of them will be rushed into the limelight.

Of the quartet, it is 20-year-old Nzonzi who has made the biggest impression, returning to the first team on Saturday to help inspire a 2-1 win over Aston Villa, but Rovers fans can still expect the French midfielder to be nursed through the next few months.

The biggest pressure is on £6million Croatian striker Kalinic, as all eyes are on him to replace the goals lost by Roque Santa Cruz’s move to Manchester City, but Allardyce insists his time will come.

The 21-year-old has yet to start a Premier League game for Rovers, with Allardyce pointing to Ukraine and former AC Milan ace Andrei Shevchenko as proof of what can go wrong for English football novices.

Allardyce said: “We are only six games into the season. When say adapting I talk about three, six, nine and 12 months. Not two and three games like you lot talk and the fans talk about.

“Nikola is a young man, Steven Nzonzi is the same, they have to evolve in the team. We have to make sure we bring them on slowly. We don’t give them too much too soon because that could be a very destructive and they may never get to this level.

“I give you the perfect example. This wasn’t a young man, this was an old experienced player. Because Chelsea put him in too quickly, and because he wasn’t ready he became a complete flop and that was Andrei Shevchenko.

“That was £30m and however much grand a week. Because they continued to play him because he cost that much when he was never ready to play in the Premier League.

"It was far too quick for him, far too physical and the lad’s confidence just drained away. He never, ever got to it.

“It is the same with Michel Salgado, he found it tough at Everton.

"Now he knows what it is all about and you have to build them in slowly no matter how young, old, or experienced you are.”