STEVE Kean is hoping to bolster the spine of his Blackburn Rovers side after admitting defeat in his search for a marquee signing this month.

Having written off Rovers chances of adding David Beckham to the squad on Friday, Kean conceded after dumping QPR out of the FA Cup their hopes of landing Ronaldinho were also “dead in the water”.

The South American playmaker is reportedly close to signing for Brazilian side Flamengo, while Beckham has agreed to train with Tottenham until February 10, although he is not expected to play for them on loan.

Ready to make a series of phone calls on Saturday night though, Kean believes the end of the Ronaldinho saga can leave him to focus on his domestic search.

Roque Santa Cruz is still a target, if Manchester City decide to let him leave on loan, while Rovers are also understood to be keen on Fulham's Damien Duff and Blackpool's Charlie Adam – although neither club appear willing sellers.

Kean said: “There was genuine interest (in Ronaldinho).

"With these high-profile or marquee signings, you forget about the domestic ones and the ones that are going to be the backbone of your team instead of the icing on the cake.

“I don’t think that we’ll go for a high-profile signing now, that will be in the summer and I’m confident there will be one in the summer.

“The three of four that we do bring in will go right into the team and will be a bit of the spine rather than the icing on the cake.

“We’ll probably start trying to spark it off with some phone calls and trying to make a push because we really need to help the squad because we’re a bit thin on the ground.”

Without eight senior players for QPR's visit on Saturday, Kean handed a senior debut to 19-year-old midfielder Jason Lowe and included 16-year-old Robbie Cotton on the bench for the first time.

The Rovers boss is hopeful Gael Givet will recover from the bruised knee he suffered on Saturday but, with few of the walking wounded expected back for the weekend's trip to Chelsea, he knows new arrivals are crucial.

He said: “Hopefully we’ll have one or two additions to come in before the Chelsea game to take pressure off the squad because we’ve got young guys in there making their debuts and Robbie Cotton on the bench who is 16 years and four months old.

"We’ve got the young ones and we’re down to the bare bones.