Blackburn Rovers’ uphill battle to keep their best players after Mark Hughes’s departure as manager was underlined last night when Roque Santa Cruz, the Paraguay striker, revealed that Manchester United are eager to entice him from Ewood Park.

Santa Cruz, 26, proved an instant hit at Blackburn after signing from Bayern Munich for £3.8 million last summer and went on to score 23 goals in his first season with the club. Sir Alex Ferguson is keen to add a greater physical presence to his attacking line-up at Old Trafford and, although the United manager is thought to be considering a number of targets, including Luís Fabiano, the Seville striker, Dimitar Berbatov, of Tottenham Hotspur, and Klaas-Jan Huntelaar, the Ajax forward, Santa Cruz, a tall, muscular striker with exceptional heading ability, fits the bill and may be a more viable and cheaper option.

Blackburn are mindful that the prospect of losing the nucleus of their squad could hinder their attempts to find a replacement for Hughes, who has joined Manchester City, but an offer in the region of £15 million from United may prove difficult to resist.

United could face competition from City for Santa Cruz, although with the signing of Jô, the CSKA Moscow striker, almost complete, any desire Hughes has of teaming up again with a player he introduced to the Barclays Premier League is likely to hinge on the success of City’s pursuit of Ronaldinho, the Barcelona playmaker.

“The interest from Manchester United is real, but I’m busy now so my representatives will handle anything if there is a concrete offer,” Santa Cruz, who has three years remaining on his contract at Blackburn, said.

Santa Cruz is not the only Blackburn player in demand. David Bentley, the midfield player, is wanted by Hughes, while Brad Friedel, the goalkeeper, is a target for Aston Villa.

Villa appear to be reluctant to meet Liverpool’s £10 million valuation of Scott Carson, the goalkeeper who was on loan at the Midlands club last season, and may make a move for Friedel, even though, at 37, he is 15 years older than Carson.

Blackburn are focused on finding a successor to Hughes. John Williams, the club’s chairman, indicated yesterday that an appointment would not be made with “undue haste”, but he is keen to find a replacement “as quickly as possible”.

A poll conducted by the Lancashire Evening Telegraph website yesterday revealed that the overwhelming favourite among the fans to replace Hughes is Alan Shearer, the former Blackburn striker. Shearer received 46 per cent of the vote, almost three times as much as his nearest challenger, Paul Ince, the Milton Keynes Dons manager, who is also under consideration for the position.

Ince, who is on a family holiday in Portugal, was unreachable yesterday, but the former United midfield player, who has been approached by Leicester City about the vacancy there, is understood to want the job at Blackburn.

Shearer, who scored 130 goals in 171 appearances for Blackburn and was offered the role of player-coach at the club at the age of 25 before his £15 million move to Newcastle United in July 1996, had still to be contacted by Blackburn last night. He is scheduled to spend the next few weeks covering the European Championship finals in Austria and Switzerland in his role as a pundit for the BBC, although it is unclear whether he would be interested in the Blackburn post. A possible alliance with Mike Newell, Shearer’s former strike partner at Blackburn and a close friend, has been mooted.

“If you are going to lose your manager, this is the time to do it,” Williams said. “There is still five weeks before the players return, so we have some time to make the right appointment.”