Mark Hughes, the Blackburn Rovers manager, is expected to complete the signing of Andriy Nesmachnyi, the Dynamo Kiev and Ukraine defender, in the coming days before stepping up his pursuit of David Dunn, of Birmingham City.

Dunn, who will be 27 next week, is eager to return to the club where he played with Hughes before joining Birmingham for £5.5 million in July 2003 and Blackburn’s interest has not waned since their attempts to re-sign the midfield player failed in the summer.

Birmingham are understood to be more willing sellers this time, although, with Dunn having made only 53 starts during 3½ injury-plagued years at St Andrew’s, Blackburn are keen to secure a cut-price deal of about £1 million and will offer the player a pay-as-you-play contract.

Relations between Blackburn and the Coca-Cola Championship leaders soured after Robbie Savage’s controversial £3 million move to Ewood Park in January 2005, but Hughes does not expect further problems. Hughes will assess Nesmachnyi over the next day or two before deciding whether to make an official bid, although having seen the 27-year-old at close quarters in recent years, a deal is likely.

“He played against Wales [when Hughes was the manager] a few years ago, so I was aware of him then, and I’ve seen him on numerous occasions in the Champions League,” Hughes said.

Nesmachnyi’s arrival could hasten the departure of Lucas Neill to Liverpool, although with Stephen Warnock, the Liverpool left back, a possible makeweight in any deal for the Australia defender, the situation could complicate Michael Gray’s future at Blackburn.

Andy Todd had also been expected to leave, but Hughes is likely to delay any decision on the defender’s future until he knows when Ryan Nelsen is expected to return from injury.