Nikola Kalinic is due to sign for Blackburn rather than Pompey according to reports in the Croatian media.

The Hadjuk Split and Croatia international striker had been set to sign for Pompey last weekend, but it seems the deal was delayed and allowed Rovers to step in. The player is thought to have agreed terms and passed a medical.

Kalinic's agent Tomislav Erceg explained what happened after he and the player arrived in England early this week to sign for Pompey.

"When we arrived in Portsmouth on Tuesday, they told us to wait until Friday morning. We didn't want them to play games with us so we decided to leave straight away for London," he told sportal.hr. Article continues here

"In the meantime we receive a concrete off from Blackburn, who were since the beginning interested. So we immediately left London for Blackburn."

And Erceg revealed the pair never followed up a reported offer from Porto.

"We didn't go to Portugal, the last few days were spent in Blackburn. They greeted Kalinic like a true star, they are expected big things from him this season."

The player will cost Rovers 7 million euros and Hadjuk president Mate Peros revealed all went very smoothly.

"We received the official offer and I have to admit that it was the best one of all the ones we have received to date for Kalinic. Very quickly we finished the talks with the club [Blackburn]. We had a number of offers for Kalinic, but this one was absolutely the best."

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