Tony Mowbray admits former loanees Harry Chapman and Adam Armstrong are among the club’s targets - but not at the top of their list.

There has been clamour among the supporters for the duo to return to Ewood Park on a permanent basis from their parent clubs Middlesbrough and Newcastle United.

Armstrong is understood to be available for permanent transfer from the Premier League club, while Chapman is in to the final year of his contract at the Riverside, despite impressing in pre-season.

However, both are inexperienced at Championship level, which Mowbray admits means they aren’t at the top of his priority list as he looks to add to his squad.

Armstrong failed to fire in his two Championship loan spells, with Barnsley in 2016/17 and Bolton in the first half of last season, but impressed with Rovers in League One as he scored nine goals in 17 starts to help fire them to promotion.

Chapman meanwhile suffered two separate hamstring injuries last term which restricted him to just 16 appearances, only one of those coming as a league start, but he’s enjoyed a strong pre-season with Boro.

“I think they are very much still very much in the mix,” Mowbray said when asked about the pair.

“I don’t think we should be talking about other teams’ players but I have had some conversations with their clubs.

“We have lists and they are not, and have not been, at the top of those lists.

“They are two young boys and I think it’s right that they are not right at the top of the lists because if we are to be competitive in this division then we need players who have more experience, more goals and game-time in the league and understanding of it that bit better.

“Sometimes targets drift away, someone buys them for £7m and you think ‘wow’.”

Rovers have been frustrated in their attempts to further add to their squad, with just three signings so far.

The Championship market has been slow going for most, despite the window for permanent transfers having been brought forward to August 9.

And Mowbray added: “Until someone pays the money you don’t know how much a player is really worth.

“We've done a few where one deal can distort the market. All it takes is for one team to pay X number of millions of pounds for one player in particular position and everyone thinks ‘wow, if they can get that for him then we can demand this for ours’.

“We’ve hit that stumbling block once or twice but are making calls and have to make sure the cards fall in the right order for us really with our potential signings.

“We’re working away but would rather sign signing B rather than signing D. And although we can get signing D we will try and get signing B. And that’s why things can get held up at times.”