Sell to buy, sell to buy

Despite the protests to the contrary the very real prospect of this transfer window is that Blackburn Rovers need to raise the money to fund transfers through their own player sales.

Despite manager Steve Kean and owners Venky's proclamations of a 'healthy budget' and 'four new faces' speculation is mounting that Rovers are struggling and that without investment from the owners (which they are reluctant to give properly) the need to sell before buying looks the most viable option.

This means getting rid of some of the more saleable assets that Rovers have on the playing staff.

But the question is who?

Starting at the top. I don't think anyone at the club has the balls to sell defender Chris Samba as that would be the clearest sign yet of a relegation sized white flag and would provoke uproar amongst fans.

Junior Hoilett is still wanted at the club but cash for a player who wants to leave and is out of contract in the summer could be too good to turn down.

Mauro Formica is on his way home as he wants to leave for family reasons and it is believed Rovers officials have sanctioned his departure if the right suitor comes in.

There are also murmurings that Steve N'Zonzi could be sacrificed if the right amount of money can be raised from his sale. With potentially up to £7 million on offer and a number of interested clubs it could be a possibility.

Keith Andrews, Vince Grella and even David Dunn could also be handy to offload to reduce the wage bill and of course we all know about the Michel Salgado situation.

So it's not quite a fire sale but talk of healthy investment appears to be a far way off the target.

The owners need to reduce the wage bill and they seem reluctant to invest their own cash as they know they'll likely not see a return on it.

Bad times look to be on the horizon.

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