Parkes insisted: "The worrying thing for him over the last few months has been all the other stuff that's been happening."It's been a case of 'Am I going to Liverpool, am I staying here.'"Well, now that it looks like everything's been sorted out you'll see what a big part of the team he is."When I first saw him at 15, in a trial match at Ewood Park, he took the eye even then. But the standard he has reached now has even surprised us a little bit."If he improved much more he would abuse the privilege of being called a talented player, he's that good."

Rovers chief executive John Williams is delighted at Duff's decision to stay.

He said: "It isn't a race, it's just a case of dotting the i's and crossing the t's and we're confident there won't be a problem."It is irrelevant if someone comes in now. He wants to stay and I don't even see that as a factor any more."

Birmingham are next in line for Duff and Co this afternoon - and Parkes has warned that it could be a long, hard season for Steve Bruce's newly-promoted outfit.

Parkes added: "If you don't adjust very quickly, you find yourself at the bottom and you have a hell of a job to get away from there."Look at what Manchester City have done. They won the title and bought better players - that's how you do it."You have to spend some money and bring people in because the gap is very wide from winning promotion to being in the Premiership."