BLACKBURN Rovers midfielder Morten Gamst Pedersen is at the centre of a club versus country tug-of-war.

Norway coach Age Hareide has named the former Tromso winger in his squad for a tour of the Middle East later this month.

If Pedersen was to go on the trip then he could miss a number of crucial games for Blackburn at a time when he's just made the breakthrough into the first team.

However, Rovers boss Mark Hughes is confident he can persuade the Norwegian FA to release the 23-year-old for some or all of the tour, which features games against Kuwait, Bahrain and Jordan.

"We are negotiations with them at the moment," said Rovers' chief executive John Williams today.

"In fairness to the Norwegians, Morten was selected for the tour when he wasn't in our team and Mark felt it might not have been a bad thing at the time.

"However, that situation has now changed and Mark is negotiating to get Morten released from some or all of the tour."

Pedersen has forced his way back into Hughes' first team plans with two goals in his last two games and the Rovers boss praised his contribution following Saturday's 1-0 victory at Portsmouth.

"Morten's had to be patient because, when I first took over, I didn't think he was strong enough, physically," said Hughes.

"But he's put in a lot of hard work over the last two or three months and he now looks bigger, faster and stronger and we're going to reap the benefits of that in the second half of the season, I'm sure."

In the meantime, Rovers are hoping the Robbie Savage saga will reach a successful conclusion at some point in the next 48 hours.

Birmingham are now resigned to losing the Welsh international but they won't sanction his £3 million switch to Rovers until they have signed a replacement.

Steve Bruce failed with a £1.5 million bid for Portsmouth's Amdy Faye last night but he was today hoping to sign Liverpool's Salif Diao on loan for the rest of the season.

If that deal goes through then Savage should get the green light to join Rovers, even though Birmingham

chairman David Gold has become increasingly bitter about the whole affair.

"The fact is Mark Hughes and Mark Bowen are his friends," said Gold.

"I believe Robbie feels, and I'm being generous here, it would be a new challenge working with his Welsh connections.

"But quite frankly, if he thinks Blackburn are a bigger club than Birmingham then he should see a psychiatrist.

"Our fan base is far larger and although it's true they won the Premiership under Jack Walker, the glamour days are gone.

"They are a commercially run organisation without a philanthropist looking after them."

In the meantime, Ryan Nelsen will miss Rovers' FA Cup replay with Cardiff City tomorrow because he didn't get international clearance in time to play in the original tie.

And Paul Dickov and Tugay will both be suspended for next Monday's game with Bolton after picking up their fifth bookings of the season against Portsmouth last weekend.