Blackburn Rovers' plans to sign Jonathan Spector from Manchester United have hit a hitch.

Rovers boss Mark Hughes planned to bring the 18-year-old defender in on loan until the end of the season as soon as the January transfer window opened today, but the deal won't be done until later in the month.

A potential injury crisis at Old Trafford has led to manager Sir Alex Ferguson wanting to keep hold of the American for longer than he originally planned.

"It's been held up," said Hughes. "I spoke to Sir Alex yesterday and they've had a few injury concerns.

"They've brought the lad back from his break a bit earlier to cover for that so when the situation at Manchester United eases itself then maybe in the middle of January we'll be able to bring him in, but at the moment it's just on hold."

In the latest twist to the Robbie Savage transfer saga, Hughes has refused to respond to comments made by Birmingham City chairman David Sullivan, who is threatening legal action against Rovers for their approach to the Welsh midfielder.

Sullivan said: "It's quite clear Robbie has been tapped up and what Rovers are doing is highly illegal and improper."

Hughes, who is lining up a £2.7million bid after an initial £2.2million offer was rejected, said: "We put in a bid that we felt was a correct bid that we thought was at the right level.

"That bid was rejected and that's where we're at, but given all the speculation that seems to be surrounding the whole situation it's best not to add to that.

"Anything I say might be mis-construed or mis-represented, so I don't want to comment on it."

Yesterday, however, Birmingham boss Steve Bruce re-iterated that he had no intention of selling Savage in the January window.

He said: We had an offer from Blackburn which was not acceptable and it is not likely to be with those sort of figures and the way the deal is structured.

"I re-iterate that Savage is not for sale. I don't want to sell him. He's been vital to us for the last two and a half years and why should I sell him to a rival at this time of the year?"

Meanwhile, iIlness ruled Garry Flitcroft out of training on Thursday but Hughes hopes he would recover in time to take on Aston Villa at Villa Park today (3pm).

Blackburn Rovers are planning to add to the £50,000 they have donated to the Premier League consortium, set up to help victims of the Indian Ocean tsunami disaster.

There will be a bucket collection at Monday's home match with Charlton Athletic and all programme profits from the game will also go to the charity.