Source: Telegraph
Sam Allardyce hopes Roque Santa Cruz will stay at Blackburn Rovers
Allardyce is hopeful the Paraguayan international will spearhead the club's fight against relegation even though he has been strongly linked with a move to Manchester City this month. [LNB]Even though Santa Cruz has been tipped for a reunion with former Blackburn boss Mark Hughes at Eastlands during the current transfer window, Allardyce has revealed that no formal bids have been made for his ex-Bayern Munich forward. [LNB]Allardyce told Telegraph Sport: "I wouldn't want to lose him but at the end of the day, I'm not the chairman of the football club, John Williams is the chairman of the football club. Any bid would have to be considered both by me and the chairman. [LNB] "In the end, that decision – I would hope – would be taken together but the chairman will always have the final say. I'm not saying we have to sell him or not because I don't think we will. [LNB] "I think that whatever decision we come to we will stick by it and we will stick by it together. But at the moment we have had no bid and personally I hope we don't get one." The 27-year-old Santa Cruz has not played for Allardyce since he succeeded the sacked Paul Ince last month due to injury but is now on course to return to action when Blackburn host Allardyce's old club Newcastle a week on Saturday. [LNB] "Roque is still having his calf treated and that will continue until we get him fit," Allardyce added. "That will hopefully be in the next seven to 10 days." Allardyce has been linked with a move for his former Bolton charge, Sunderland's Senegalese international El-Hadji Diouf but remained coy, simply stating: "I don't know whether he is available or not." [LNB]Meanwhile, Allardyce has defended his decision to play a weakened side in the FA Cup third round tie against non-League Blyth Spartans at Croft Park on Monday night that his club narrowly won 1-0 to set up a fourth-round tie at Sunderland. [LNB] "I did not play a full-strength side because I had not seen of these players play and because of that I have to make a decision to play them in a very competitive game," Allardyce said. [LNB] "You have Martin Olsson, Keith Treacy, Alan Judge and Danny Simpson who are not too experienced but the rest are very experienced." [LNB]
