Blackburn manager Sam Allardyce will not sign Michael Owen because he is too expensive and injury-prone.

Allardyce is looking for striking reinforcements after the departures of Roque Santa Cruz and Matt Derbyshire and is willing to throw his entire transfer budget on a striker.

"We're not going to sign any more players in any other positions just yet, until we've secured the player up front as quick as we can. We'll have a look and see what we need from there."

"If all the money I have available has to go on the striker, it all has to go on the striker and that's it," Allardyce affirmed to Sky Sports News.

But when asked about owen, the Rovers manager said Blackburn cannot afford to buy the former England international.

"No, not for me. I don't think that we can afford him. I think that from my point of view, from being with him at Newcastle [United], it's always been the injury threat.

"I can ill-afford to sign a player who's going to be out the team, unless they can gurantee me 30 plus games a year. At this stage, unfortunately for Michael, if you look at his last three years, I can't take a gamble on that," he added.