YILDIRAY Basturk is set to get his Premier League opportunity as Blackburn Rovers boss Sam Allardyce already starts to plan for next campaign.

The Turkish midfielder has yet to feature since arriving at Ewood Park on a short-term deal in January and, with time running out, the potential of him securing a long-term future in East Lancashire appeared to be dwindling.

With Rovers’ top-flight status now mathematically guaranteed though, boss Allardyce is ready to offer Basturk a Premier League lifeline to see if he can reproduce his former glories – although limited finances would leave a permanent deal a long shot.

Basturk was part of the Bayer Leverkusen side that faced Real Madrid in the 2002 Champions League final as well as featuring in the Turkey side that finished third at the World Cup in the same year.

Born in Germany, he has 49 caps for Turkey and had a spell playing alongside Rovers centre back Chris Samba at Hertha Berlin, before moving on to Stuttgart but did not feature in their Champions League campaign this season.

The 31-year-old was released from his Stuttgart contract in January to allow him join Rovers on a free transfer until the end of the campaign, but so far he has been unable to impress.

Allardyce now has to strike the right balance between attempting to guide Rovers as high up the Premier League table as possible, in pursuit of valuable prize money, and plotting for next season, with Basturk set to get his chance before the season end.

Allardyce said: “He played for the reserves last week and he is fit and well again after a niggling injury. It is very difficult to put him into my team based on the fact of the strength and depth of the squad I have available now.

“I have got 22 players to choose from and having never played in the Premier League it is difficult to find a place for him.

“Manchester United was not the right time but before the end of the season I do expect to give him a run out somewhere to see if he can show us the sort of qualities we know he has had during his career in Germany.”