Blackburn Rovers last night matched Birmingham City's £6 million bid for controversial Newcastle striker Craig Bellamy - on the same day that Steve Bruce was trying to persuade the player to come to St Andrew's.
Rovers tabled their bid and told Newcastle their payment would be structured over three years in a move which stokes up the rivalry again between Birmingham and Blackburn.
Newcastle chiefs are believed to be happy with Rovers' proposal and now it appears to be a straight choice for the player
although Everton are also in the running and there is a highly unlikely option of Bellamy going to Celtic on loan.
Blackburn's Welsh connection - Robbie Savage, sacked Blues No2 Mark Bowen and former Wales boss Mark Hughes - are likely to try and make Bellamy turn down Blues.
But Bruce was yesterday holding talks with 25-year-old Bellamy with around £9 million in wages on offer. And, with a medical planned this morning, Blues remained confident of signing the striker before the transfer window closes
tomorrow night. Savage, left Blues under a cloud 10 days ago in £3.1m deal after a bitter battle between the clubs, and it seems that he has painted a less than glowing picture of life at Birmingham to Bellamy.
Cash may be a problem for Blackburn, with Barry Ferguson's proposed £6 million move to Rangers in the balance, but Blues chairman David Gold admitted that Bruce would do all he can to pull off the deal.
"Steve is a special character and Craig has been with us over the weekend for talks," Gold told the Mercury ahead of today's F.A. Cup clash at Chelsea.
"I would hope he can see the ambition here and the fact that we want to progress. He's one of the best strikers in the country and we would like to announce the signing on Monday."
