Blackburn boss Sam Allardyce says he may miss out on the chance of signing Real Madrid midfielder Guti as his priority is to sign a striker.
Rovers have been heavily linked with the former Spain international, and his former team-mate Michel Salgado has convinced the 33-year-old that a move to Lancashire would be an attractive proposition.
But Allardyce told the Lancashire Evening Telegraph: "One of the stumbling blocks for me is the priority is a frontman and I am not so sure Mr Guti could wait for us to find a front man and see where we go from there. But that is the key thing for us to sign a front man and then look elsewhere after that."
Allardyce added: "Guti would be a player we would like to sign there is no doubt about that.
"It has been fronted by Michel Salgado and it has been outstanding that a player like that would like to come to Blackburn.
"But a player in his position is not the priority at the moment."
Rovers' striking resources were dented last season after the sale of Roque Santa Cruz to Manchester City and the departure of Benni McCarthy to West Ham at the end of the January transfer window.
And former Bolton and Newcastle boss Allardyce feels the ongoing World Cup will make it more difficult for Blackburn to secure any potential targets.
He told the club website, www.rovers.co.uk: "It's a very difficult market in the world of football in the Premier League today and it won't be made any easier by the World Cup, because it will only inflate prices.
"That's why we all went out in the early part of the summer to try and secure one or two players, which never materialised."
Source: PA
