Allardyce has been active in the January transfer window

Blackburn Rovers manager Sam Allardyce has bolstered his squad by signing St Etienne midfielder Amine Linganzi.

The 20-year-old, who was born in Algeria, was nurtured at St Etienne's academy, before he made his debut for the French club in 2008.

Linganzi, who has joined Rovers on a free transfer, has signed a three-and-a-half year contract.

His signing comes a day after Rovers signed Turkey midfielder Yildiray Basturk from German club Stuttgart.

Linganzi made his debut for St Etienne in September 2008 and made two other appearances in the 2008-09 season, though he failed to feature during the current campaign.

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But he was given a trial by Rovers over Christmas and did enough to convince Allardyce that he was worth a permanent deal.

"You talk about a modern day midfielder player who can get up and down the pitch, he's over six foot and he looks like he'll grow in stature," said Allardyce.

"Hopefully he'll develop as Steven Nzonzi has done and as Martin Olsson has done.

"We've got a nice breed of players aged 21 or less here and think that this crop of good young players should be talked about more."

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