BENNI McCarthy is poised to become a Blackburn player later this week.

I can reveal the club have now reached an agreement with both Porto AND the player, so his long awaited transfer is expected to go through before the weekend is out.

Rovers agreed a fee, believed to be in the region of £2.5 million, with Porto earlier this week.

The Portuguese giants then granted McCarthy permission to fly to England and, after passing a medical at Brockhall, he shook hands on a four-year deal, which will be formally registered with the Premier League tomorrow, once a few loose ends have been tied up.

News of McCarthy's imminent arrival is a major coup for Rovers boss Mark Hughes.

The Welshman has been tracking the 28-year-old since the start of last summer and, after having several bids knocked back, he now finally appears to have got his man.

McCarthy will be formally unveiled as a Blackburn player early next week, once the squad returns from their pre-season training break in Germany.

The former Celta Vigo ace will become Hughes' fourth signing of the summer, following hot on the heels of Jason Roberts, Jason Brown and Francis Jeffers.

Hughes has been desperate to land a proven goalscorer with experience of playing in Europe ever since Craig Bellamy defected to Liverpool last month, and McCarthy fits the bill perfectly having scored goals in the Champions League.

His arrival will take Rovers' spending to almost £6 million for the summer and the club are not ruling out the possibility of further new arrivals before the transfer window closes at the end of August.