Blackburn Rovers are close to signing Parma striker Savo Milosevic on loan with a view to a permanent transfer. Blackburn manager Graeme Souness said yesterday a deal for Milosevic had been agreed last week but the sacking of Parma boss Daniel Passarella on Tuesday had delayed it.

Parma have appointed the former Italy coach Arrigo Sacchi as general manager alongside coach Pietro Carmignani and Souness is hopeful Sacchi will give the green light to the deal this weekend.

The former Aston Villa striker would cost Blackburn a substantial fee: Parma paid Real Zaragoza £11 million for the 28-year-old Yugoslav international 18 months ago.

Souness believes the player could form a useful partnership with England Under-21 striker Matt Jansen. "He's one that excites you," he said. "I think he's the type of player who would be a good partner for the other strikers we have here.

"You look at his goalscoring record and it's very, very good, both at club level and on the international scene. As I've said many times these type of players are big money - big transfer money and big wages."

Souness feels a goalscorer like Milosevic could propel Blackburn up the table, possibly to a top-six place. "I don't think it's any secret that if you look around, all the top strikers are at the top five clubs, with maybe one or two exceptions," he said.

"And that's the thing that separates them from the rest of us - they have the best strikers around. When they're having a bad day, one of those strikers will put the ball in the net and turn a bad day into a good day for their team.

"I go back to my last year as a player with Liverpool and I think that was maybe the worst Liverpool team I played in, but we won the European Cup, the league championship and the League Cup that year. That was because we had a really solid defence and Ian Rush up front and we used to win games 1-0. That was the difference. That's why I believe if we get the right man in we would go from being a team at the moment who are in danger of dropping into the relegation battle to a team possibly challenging for a European spot."

Milosevic would be a risky buy for Souness and ironically, his Premiership career effectively ended at Ewood Park in January 1998 when he was accused of spitting at some Villa fans during his side's 5-0 defeat.

Kilmarnock have signed former Celtic striker Tommy Johnson until the end of the season. The 30-year-old turned down a new contract at Celtic last season and joined Sheffield Wednesday on a short-term deal, before becoming a free agent.