Striking duo Roque Santa Cruz and Benni McCarthy - a goalscorer in Sunday's 2-2 draw with Manchester City at Ewood Park - are among those being most heavily linked with a move to pastures new when the January transfer window opens on Thursday.

But the Rovers chief has vowed to keep his biggest assets for as long as possible.

Find someone

"For all managers, the January window is a nightmare," said Allardyce.

"We will try to add to the squad. The problem is we need to find someone who can have an almost immediate impact.

"There is a huge amount of expectation around most clubs at this time with rumours of this player coming or that one going. Once the speculation has gone from one player, it just moves on to someone else.

"If someone comes in for one of our players we will try to resist them for as long as we possibly can."