SAM Allardyce has tipped Brett Emerton to return to his Premier League best this season after insisting the Ewood Park outfit still need him.

While sources in Turkey are claiming Galatasaray are back in for his Blackburn Rovers and Australian team mate Vince Grella, Allardyce believes Emerton is ready to put a disappointing last season behind him.

Rovers’ long-serving Australian midfielder made his first club appearance of the summer as a second half substitute in yesterday’s 2-1 Sydney Festival of Football opening day defeat against Rangers.

Emerton, like Rovers’ other World Cup players Grella, Ryan Nelsen and Lars Jacobsen, was allowed an extended break after his exploits in South Africa but Allardyce insists he is glad to have him back as their Premier League preparations step up a gear.

Speculation about Emerton’s future in East Lancashire has been rife this summer but, with the midfielder himself insisting he was going nowhere just last week, Allardyce has now echoed those sentiments.

The versatile 31-year-old struggled to make much of a first team impact last campaign, having spent seven months on the sidelines from a cruciate ligament injury suffered in February 2009, but Allardyce believes he is now ready to reproduce past form.

Allardyce said: “It’s been frustrating for Brett but I think this season is going to be one where he will show his full potential yet again.

“I do think that the trauma of an injury that big at his age mentally shocked him.

“But it certainly hasn’t from a physical point of view and I think he’s never been as physically fit as he is now.

“This year, hopefully all those injuries are put to one side and he’ll come and blossom through because we need him in the team.”