Duff agrees to commit future to Blackburn

Damien Duff will sign a new contract at Blackburn Rovers later this week, ending speculation that he might be on the verge of a move to Liverpool or Manchester United. He has all but agreed a new, £30,000-a-week deal, including a one-year extension that will keep him at the club until 1 July 2005.

The news will be a great fillip for Graeme Souness. The Blackburn manager had fought hard to keep Duff away from his former club, Liverpool, and had criticised his old employers last week after their manager, Gérard Houllier, twice had inquiries dismissed.

Duff will sign the deal, which should contain a clause allowing him to speak to other clubs if they were to lodge big enough bids next summer, when he returns from international duty.

"If it was there to sign last Friday I would have signed it," Duff said. "But at the moment it's just not quite ready so, hopefully, by the time I come back later this week everything will be sorted out. I'm very happy here."

Duff has received the praise of his international manager, the Republic of Ireland's Mick McCarthy, who described him as a "true star", after his exploits at the World Cup in Japan and South Korea this summer. The Irish manager, who is preparing for a friendly against Finland in Helsinki tomorrow, then praised the attitude of his striker Robbie Keane, but it is the shadow of Roy Keane which still hangs heavily over his squad.

While McCarthy found himself becoming embroiled in the latest thoughts on his World Cup captain's controversial walk-out in the Far East, the Yorkshireman was more at home commenting on Robbie Keane's stubborn refusal to accept his days at Leeds were numbered.

A succession of injuries have forced McCarthy to draft the Sunderland midfielder Thomas Butler into the senior party for tomorrow's game, which is supposed to mark a new era in McCarthy's reign, with the former stalwarts Niall Quinn and Steve Staunton among those who announced their international retirements in the wake of the agonising penalty shoot-out defeat to Spain at the World Cup finals.

But the spectre of that infamous raging row between McCarthy and Roy Keane lives on, thanks to the Manchester United man's resurrection of the argument in the serialisation of his autobiography. Keane insists he will not play for his country again while McCarthy remains coach. For his part, McCarthy has no intention of resigning and has no regrets over the dispute which has robbed him of the services of his most talented player.

"Maybe I could have smiled a bit more but other than that I have no regrets about what happened during the summer," said the Yorkshireman. "I can't change what people think of me. I just want to get on with my job and I think we have done pretty well, to be honest.

"Once again I find myself talking about things other than football. As far as I am concerned the matter is closed but it is going to be raked up continuously."

McCarthy will no doubt expand still further in his own World Cup diary, which is due to be released in the autumn. But, for now, he wishes to concentrate his energies on remodelling his team, although that will not involve breaking up the striking partnership between Robbie Keane and Damien Duff which proved so effective at the World Cup.

Keane rejected a move to Sunderland after Leeds accepted a £9m bid for him, insisting that he wanted to stay at Elland Road and fight for his place. And, while he could not force his way into the starting line-up against Manchester City on Saturday, he did make an impact from the substitutes' bench, scoring with a superb lob to finish off Leeds' 3-0 win.

"I admire someone who says: 'I am as good as anyone else here and I want to play'," said McCarthy. "It takes guts and tenacity to do that. He is part of a very good club, with a very good coach, which has the potential to give him Champions' League football."