Blackburn Rovers still hopeful on Raul

‘RAUL of the Rovers’ might not be coming to a town near you this summer but a bullish Steve Kean insists the story could still have a fairy tale ending for Blackburn fans.

The Ewood Park faithful had their hopes lifted and then dashed within a couple of hours earlier this week as Schalke first revealed Rovers had enquired about the former Galactico, before quickly stating the striker had no desire to move to East Lancashire.

While the rest of the footballing world dismissed the effort as ‘just another failed attempt by Venky’s to land their big name player’, Kean and everyone else around the club remain adamant the move made complete sense.

The ‘Michel Salgado’ factor obviously went in Rovers’ favour, with both players having enjoyed almost a decade together at Real Madrid, and Kean insists Schalke’s firm ‘no’ won’t see them give up just yet.

He said: “We got the feeling speaking to Michel that he fancies it. We had the impression it was do-able. We had the funds in place to make it happen.

“We just needed the final piece, that Schalke would let him go. We thought they would but we got a fax saying he wasn’t available at any price.

“That one is unfortunately fizzling out. We had the funds in place to make it happen and we knew what it would cost. We were willing to pay it. But he’s on his contract.

“We thought it would be easier than it’s panned out. But it moves forward to the next window.”

Raul

Raul’s supposed rejection of Rovers does not seem as clear as first thought with sources around Ewood, including Salgado himself, suggesting in recent days he is still keen on joining the club.

Kean admitted he was surprised by Schalke’s statement claiming the player had turned Rovers down, saying the reason the switch is unlikely to happen this month is because the Bundesliga outfit are unwilling to sell.

He said: “If you can get a player of profile then great, but more important is a player that can still do the business. And Raul can. We felt we could get him and we followed it all the right through.

“Michel is a friend and they speak. He was anxious to give us a go and we were delighted with that. We felt it would fall into place. “We were told he was disappointed not to come. He could still do a job in a few months time. I don’t think it’s dead and buried but we’ll have to wait and see if he becomes available. He seemed keen to come.”

Rovers’ audacious move for the 34-year-old three times Champions League winner is just the latest in a line of attempts by owners Venky’s to bring a high profile player to the club.

Bids to land Ronaldinho and David Beckham last January met with failure, and left them the source of ridicule for many, but Kean is not about to let the set backs put him off continuing the search for bringing a top name to Ewood one day.

“The big name will happen,” he said. “We’ll be making funding available and we’ll be willing to get the players who demand these kind of salaries.

“We had it sitting there waiting but we couldn’t get him. I suppose if we’re in a difficult position at Christmas it might be more difficult to get him. But I don’t think he was even thinking about where we would be.

“During this window we’ve been speaking to players of a very high calibre. We’ll keep going. The ones we really want to go for are the ones that can still play in this league. We were closer than people thought on Raul.”