West Brom re-sign Hughes for £2.5m

West Bromwich Albion smashed their transfer record twice yesterday, bringing in first midfielder Jason Koumas and then re-signing striker Lee Hughes.

West Brom, with no points from three games in their first season in the Premier League, paid £2.25m for the 22-year-old Welsh international Koumas early in the day before later signing Hughes for £2.5m from Coventry City. The 26-year-old scored 85 goals during his previous four-year spell with the club, before he was sold to Coventry a year ago for £5m.

The club's previous record outlay was the £2.1m they paid Bristol Rovers for Jason Roberts two years ago.

Blackburn hope to beat the transfer deadline with a move for Millwall's Australian midfielder Tim Cahill. The Rovers manager, Graeme Souness, has offered three of his fringe players ­ Craig Hignett, Alan Mahon and John Curtis ­ as makeweights in the bid for the £3.5m-rated player, who has already been targeted by Aston Villa. Millwall could accept the package, but the major stumbling block will be paying the wages of Hignett, Mhaon and Curtis who are on top-level salaries and may be too much of a financial burden for the Londoners.

Damien Duff has finally signed a new four-year deal at Blackburn, who have also clinched the signing of David Thompson, from Coventry, also on a four-year deal, for an initial fee of £1.5m.