Kean wants long term Roque stay

It seems Rovers are very keen to retain the services of Roque Santa Cruz when his loan agreement ends at the end of the current season.

Roque has been banging them in for fun since he re-signed (pretend along with me here if you will) and has been such a machine that fans are salivating at the side of their mouths to see the 20 goal hitman return permanently to the club.

Sarcasm aside, Kean has been impressed with the all round efforts of the Paraguayan and would love to hook up for more than just an Indian summer.

Steve 'The Mouthpiece' Kean told Sky Sports - 'We would love to sign him.'

'We tried to fix a price with City in January when we signed him on loan and they wouldn't do it.

'We'll get to the end of the season and see where we can take it, but the good thing is he wants to stay. It's difficult to join in January, but the advantage for Roque is that there are still a lot of the players here from when he was with us before.

'He's been banging them in during training and he probably just needs one to bobble in off his shin and he'll be off and running.'

'He's looked quality every day in training and the only thing missing is having a full run without any niggling injuries so he can be totally focused about playing in the game, not protecting a little knock.

'He's a quality player, but he hasn't played a lot of football.

'He's taken a bit of time to get up to speed and he's picked up a couple of niggling injuries.

'But we are adamant that if we get him on the pitch, then he will contribute.'

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