BLACKBURN Rovers have agreed a new deal with versatile midfielder Jonathon Douglas, writes ANDY NEILD.

I can reveal the Republic of Ireland international has signed a new three year contract with the club.

And Turkish midfield ace Tugay is expected to follow suit in the next few days after verbally agreeing to commit his future to Rovers.

After weeks of constructive talks, Douglas has finally agreed to put pen to paper in a move which will delight his manager, Graeme Souness.

Douglas did an excellent job during the second half of last season when he was virtually an ever present in the Premiership as Rovers staved off the threat of relegation.

And Souness has rewarded the 22-year-old with a new contract which ties him to Rovers until the summer of 2007.

"We are delighted to have reached an agreement with Jonathon," said Rovers' chief executive, John Williams, today.

"It might seem like it's taken a while to sort out but in reality it hasn't.

"It was agreed in principle some time ago that Jonathon wanted to stay and we wanted to keep him, so it was just a case of sorting out the finer details."

Souness had stated towards the end of last season that his top priority this summer was to persuade his three out of contract stars - Douglas, Craig Short and Tugay - to sign new deals.

Now he appears to have achieved his first objective with deals for Short and Douglas already in the bag and Tugay set to sign a new one year contract later this week.

Although Rovers have yet to receive a signed document back from the 33-year-old, Tugay has told the club that he will be at Ewood again next season after rejecting the chance to return to Galatasaray.

In the meantime, I can reveal that Rovers have now made their interest in Leeds United defender Dominic Matteo official.

John Williams spoke to Dave Richards yesterday and he described their conversation as 'positive', with United indicating they would be prepared to sell the former Liverpool star in a cut-price transfer.

However, as I understand it, Matteo's wages could make any deal difficult unless the player is prepared to take a sizeable cut.

Meanwhile, Rovers are also weighing up whether to make a new, improved offer for the Norwegian winger Morten Gamst Pedersen.

So far, Rovers have had a bid of £1.5 million (rising to £2m with add-ons) rejected by Tromso for the 22-year-old.