Birmingham chief Alex McLeish is hoping to complete the signing of Peter Lovenkrands from Schalke 04 within the next 48 hours.

The Denmark international has fallen out of favour at the Bundesliga club and would welcome the opportunity to work under McLeish again having previously played for the Scot at Rangers.

A £2million deal is already believed to have been agreed and despite the move not moving as quickly as he would like, McLeish remains confident that the winger will arrive in time for their game with Sunderland on Tuesday.

"At the moment I don't know what is happening but I'm hoping we will sort something out soon," the Blues boss told the Daily Star on Sunday.