A Bahrain-based billionaire has pledged up to $155.65 million in transfer money to bolster Blackburn Rovers's squad, should his bid to buy the English Premiership outfit succeed.

Ahsan Ali Syed, founder of Western Gulf Advisory (WGA), said the cash would be used to stabilise the existing squad during the current and January transfer windows.

'We have GBP80 million to GBP100 million put aside for players to cover us until January,' he said. 'The main idea is to improvise and if we can attract big names in the process then why not? It's more important at the moment to stabilise the current squad.

'That's not to say the performance of the team has been poor because they've done an excellent job with limited resources but hopefully, with more resources, they can do even better.”

'As a football fan I have a lot of players in mind and would love it if some of them could come to a club I am involved in but at the moment, we will have to wait and see,” he added.

Blackburn manager Sam Allardyce has yet to enter the transfer market this season, despite the Barclays Premier League campaign having kicked off last weekend.

Although admitting he has yet to speak directly to 'Big Sam', as Allardyce is affectionately known, Syed said he had followed his career and would retain his position after the planned takeover.

'I haven't spoken to 'Big Sam' yet because I felt it was a little premature,' he said.'I have been following his career for quite some time and there is no doubt in my mind that he should be manager after the takeover. He could do wonders at that club with the right resources.'

WGA signed on Monday a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Blackburn officials for a four-week exclusivity period of due diligence, in which to take over the club.

During that time, investment and business plans and player transfer strategies will be discussed.

However, Syed said that he expected a deal to be done before the four weeks are up.

'I'm very excited about the prospect of taking over at Blackburn,' he said. 'It's only a matter of completing procedures once the consideration or amount is agreed on, my network worth of GBP8 billion is publicly known and goes beyond what would be sufficient to secure the safety of the club.

'I've appointed Jean-Claude Darmon as my adviser and he has gone through the books, so we will hold serious discussions over the next two weeks. I'm very confident that things will be sorted easily and I anticipate it will be earlier than the four-week period of due diligence.'

Syed said he was keen for the possibility of creating links between Rovers and Bahrain.

'It's a beautiful club with excellent facilities, but I just think we have to equip ourselves to compete with our neighbours in the region,' he said. 'I would love to be able to create links between the football club and Bahrain and if the opportunity permits then why not?”

'I am a big fan of this country, but Bahrain is much bigger than this news,” Syed added. 'I can't promise to get the club back to where it was in 1995 (when Rovers were champions of England), but I can say that as a fan I want the team to be winning titles and challenging for trophies.'

Club officials said in a statement yesterday that they held a cordial and productive meeting with WGA staff and advisers concerning a proposed takeover of the club.

A spokesman said there would be no further statement issued by the club for the time being. – TradeArabia News Service