The Rovers boss is working to a limited budget - unless Manchester City return with a vastly-improved bid for striker Roque Santa Cruz - and wants to ensure he makes the right choice for the club's relegation battle.

Benfica's Ivory Coast right-back Marco Zoro spent last week on trial with the club and Allardyce is now running the rule over Metz striker Babacar Gueye and Nancy defender Jean Calve.

Metz's sporting director Joel Muller told setanta.com: "I can tell you that Blackburn are interested in Gueye.

"For the moment, the player is spending a couple of days at the club and we are waiting for an offer in midweek."

Allardyce has yet to decide the best way forward but he does not believe he will be signing all three players.

If he can hang on to Santa Cruz, and the Rovers boss shows no signs of caving in to their mega-rich Premier League rivals, then it would seem there is less mileage in Gueye - unless Allardyce can see the player performing a role wide on the right.

That is a position he has been trying to fill, having been linked with Sunderland's El-Hadji Diouf, who did so well for him at Bolton, and Wigan's Ryan Taylor.

"From my point of view, maybe one more player we need if one can be found," he said.

"We have a limited budget though and the player I find has to be at a similar level to the one I have.

"That is a difficult task. If I can find him then fine, if not I am happy with what I have got.

"I will only bring in a quality player that can challenge the quality we already have in the squad."

Allardyce added in the Lancashire Telegraph: "I am looking for a player to turn up and blow my socks off and say he is a good enough player to challenge what we have already got.

"I don't see any point in taking any players other than for that reason but that is very difficult of course."

Blackburn moved out of the bottom three for the first time in two months with victory over Newcastle at the weekend but defender Andre Ooijer said the players could not get complacent.

"The only time it matters is at the end of the season, after the last game," he told Rovers World.

"You want to be as high as you can."

And the Dutchman half-joked: "If you look up the table maybe we could go for Europe - you never know."