Lee Carsley has sensationally handed in a transfer request at Ewood Park. The Blackburn midfielder wants to move back to the Premiership and after hearing that both Coventry and Middlesbrough were interested he decided it was time to make a stand.

Brian Kidd signed Carsley for £3.75m 18 months ago as he thought that the Irish internationals tough tacking would keep the club in the Premiership. No such luck! Blackburn had more problems than first expected and the acquisition of Carsley was never going to solve them all.

Blackburn were relegated and a while later Brian Kidd paid the penalty and was shown the door. Graeme Souness was appointed manager and since then he has steadied the ship somewhat. Blackburn are among the favourites for promotion this season but Carsley does not want to wait to get back into top flight football.

Souness said: "Lee came to me and said he wanted to play in the Premier League, but until someone comes along and offers us money that we would be happy to take then he will remain a Blackburn player.

"Walter Smith at Everton phoned me to ask about him but he has since phoned me back to say he's not interested. In the mean time, I expect him to play for Blackburn Rovers and have a professional attitude until that happens."