MIDFIELD hard man Lee Carsley has been ruled out of the remainder of Blackburn Rovers pre-season tour of Germany.

The Republic of Ireland international was forced to sit out of last night's 1-0 victory over Bahlinger after picking up an ankle injury in training.

And manager Graeme Souness -- who said he was still looking to strengthen his squad -- today revealed he will not risk last season's leading goal scorer in the second leg of Rovers tour against Rastatt tonight.

Jeff Kenna and Ben Burgess are also set to join Carsley on the sidelines after complaining of minor niggles.

They too played no part in last night's hard fought victory at the Kaiserstuhlstadion. And Souness has withdrawn them both as a precaution.

"Lee has a slight ankle problem, Ben's nursing a knee injury and Jeff has aggravated his calf," said Souness.

"But its nothing serious, we just don't want to risk any further aggravation at this stage in the season."

The Ewood chief was happy with Rovers 1-0 victory over the German part-timers last night.

But he maintained today that he is unconcerned by the outcome of the warm-up games as the club prepare for their second game in 24 hours.

"It was what we expected," said Souness. "It wasn't a good pitch to play football on because the grass was too long which made it difficult to pass the ball. "But as an exercise it was ideal for us.

"We've come through it with no injuries and everyone got at least 45 minutes and some got in a full 90.

"It wasn't difficult opposition and I know we only scored once but we could have had more.

"But everyone worked hard and I'm not concerned about the results.

"I am merely concerned about fitness at this stage."

Souness will again rotate his squad tonight to ensure everyone gets roughly the same amount of action, but he enforced absence of Carsley, Kenna and Burgess will limit his options.

Meanwhile, Rovers are continuing to work overtime to bring in more new faces to Ewood.

Souness has spent a lot of time on the phone this week following up a number of leads and he is optimistic of adding to his three summer signings in the not too distant future.

"We know what we are interested in and we are currently speaking to clubs about various things.

"Nothing is imminent just yet but we are very hopeful of getting something done before the start of the season."

A striker remains his number one priority and Brian Deane is still top of his wanted list, although Rovers must wait for Middlesbrough to sign a replacement before they can do business.