ROVERS are set to unveil Middlesbrough winger Harry Chapman as their ninth summer signing ahead of tomorrow's League One opener at Southend.

Tony Mowbray is understood to have won the race for the coveted Chapman who this summer was part of the England Under-20s squad which won the World Cup this summer. 

‎Chapman is expected to become the club's first loan signing of the window, with Mowbray keen to add further strength to his ranks. 

The Rovers boss is also looking to add more goals to his squad as he targets promotion back to the Championship, with Chapman seen as an exciting addition to the club's forward line.

“We’re looking at a few, it’s which one falls in to place for us,” Mowbray told the Lancashire Telegraph of his quest to bring in new players.

“We’re looking to add more goals to the team.

“I’ve said that we will have to score 80 goals this year, 70 or 80 goals, and when you look at the squad you hope that Danny (Graham) will score some, Dominic (Samuel), Bradley (Dack) and Elliott (Bennett), (Craig) Conway and (Liam) Feeney so I’m trying to count them up in my mind.

“I’m trying to throw another name or two in there that might score some goals as the season unfolds.

“That potentially gives us problems by having a lot of players at the top end of the pitch but I think you can’t have enough players who put the ball in the back of the net and I have to manage their personalities.

“If there’s a time where they have to sit out, or sit on the bench, so be it, as long as the team keeps winning and we keep moving forward.”

Chapman has already had two separate loan spells in League One, helping his loan clubs to promotion in each of the last two seasons.

He played 14 times for Sheffield United last term, scoring four goals, with 12 of those appearances coming as a substitute, in a spell that was disrupted by injury.

In 2015/16 he spent the second half of the season with Barnsley, scoring once in 14 appearances, as the Reds achieved promotion to the Championship via the play-offs.

Rovers hope to tie up the deal today, enabling Chapman to travel with the squad for tomorrow's game at Roots Hall.

The winger is an England youth international, and was part of the Under-20s squad which won the World Cup earlier this summer, though he didn’t feature in the tournament.

Mowbray is still looking to add further strength to his squad, and said of his recruitment: “We are continuing to build a squad at this football club and we've got another three and a bit weeks to try and get the numbers right and have a squad that we feel - at least until the new year - can be competitive.

“There's a lot of work, I still feel we need quite a few more players just to deepen the squad.

“I feel that the squad has got a decent balance to it, it just maybe needs padding out a little bit.”