Rovers chairman welcomes Cruz 'quality'

Blackburn chairman John Williams believes the club have shown shrewd business sense by signing Paraguay striker Roque Santa Cruz from Bayern Munich.

The 25-year-old has agreed a four-year contract at Ewood Park after spending eight years with the Bundesliga club.

Rovers announced Santa Cruz has joined for “an undisclosed fee” but reports in Germany suggest the Premier League club have paid £3.5m for his services.

Williams told www.rovers.co. uk: “We set off with the intention of securing quality at the right price and I think we have achieved that.”

Bayern have allowed Santa Cruz to leave following the summer arrivals of Luca Toni and Miroslav Klose, with coach Ottmar Hitzfeld recently confirming he was looking to sell the South American.

Blackburn boss Mark Hughes, himself a former Bayern Munich striker, said yesterday: “Santa Cruz is a young player, an international with a good reputation who is playing at a top European club.

“The good thing from our point of view is that his fitness levels are fine as he as been playing in the Copa America.”

Hughes is already well off for strikers, with Benni McCarthy, Jason Roberts, Matt Derbyshire and new recruit Maceo Rigters all vying for a first-team place.

In his eight years with Bayern, Santa Cruz has won the Champions League and five Bundesliga titles, as well as four German Cup triumphs and a World Club Cup winner’s medal.

In 155 games, he scored 31 times and will bring a wealth of European experience to Rovers too, having played 51 games in the Champions League and scoring seven goals.