LAZIO midfielder Dino Baggio winged his way into Brockhall today in an attempt to win a move to Blackburn Rovers.

The Italian international has been invited over to England for a trial by Rovers boss Graeme Souness.

And if he makes enough of an impression over the next few days then he could join the Premiership leaders on loan until the end of the season.

"Dino has come here to train with us for a few days with a view to maybe joining us for the rest of the season," said Souness.

"I think he's got about three years left on a very rich contract but he found himself out of the Lazio team last season and he wants to play football.

"I know he's been a terrific player in the past and at 32 I'm hoping he will still have the fitness.

"He's a big, powerful running type of player but I need to know if he still has the desire and you can only determine that by looking him in the eye."

Souness is desperate to bolster his midfield resources following the summer sales of Damien Duff, David Dunn, Keith Gillespie and Craig Hignett.

Ideally, he would like to make two more additions in that department before the transfer deadline at the end of the month.

And Baggio, who was also recently a target for Wolves, would certainly fit the bill from an experience point of view after being capped by his country 60 times, scoring seven goals in the process.

He has also played for the likes of Parma, Inter Milan and Juventus during a Serie A career spanning over a decade.

But Rovers would only have to pay a small rental fee to take him on loan for the rest of the season after he has slipped down the pecking order at Lazio.

"We are still short of midfielders," said Souness.

"That was all the midfield players we have on view on Saturday, apart from Steven Reid who's injured.

"So we've got five when everyone is fit and, ideally, I would like to have seven."

Souness also made a recent inquiry for Rangers star, Barry Ferguson, and remains a big admirer of the Scotland skipper, even though the Glasgow giants insist he is not for sale.

That situation might change, however, if the Gers were to get knocked out of the Champions League next week in Copenhagen.

Manchester City are also said to be in the hunt for the 25-year-old but Ferguson has said he is going nowhere -- for the time being at least.

"This is not the first time there has been speculation about my future and it probably won't be the last," said the Gers skipper.

"I am obviously flattered with regards to the inquiry made by Blackburn last week, which was made public.

"There was no official bid made so my present situation at Rangers remains the same."

Ferguson added: "I was unsure of what kind of reaction to expect from the Rangers supporters with all the transfer speculation being the main headlines throughout the week," he added.

"So I was delighted to hear the fans singing my name, which helped to spur on my performance to help get the three points needed."

Meanwhile, Rovers held further talks with Markus Babbel's agent yesterday about a free transfer move to Ewood.

Souness wants the 30-year-old to bolster his defensive resources but a deal is unlikely to be pushed through this week.

"We had a further conversation with his agent yesterday but now we need to start talking with Liverpool," said chief executive John Williams.

Rovers' reserves will now play Manchester United tomorrow night at Altrincham and not on Thursday as originally planned.

The match has been switched on United's request because the funeral of Jimmy Davis, who was killed in a car crash last week, is set to take place on Thursday.