Tony Mowbray feels the £1.75m spent on Adam Armstrong represents a ‘great deal’ for Rovers - but ‘time will tell’ how much of a bargain it proves to be.

Rovers were always confident of securing a permanent deal at below the reported £3m asking price from Newcastle United.

And while the deal does include add-ons, Mowbray is happy with the outlay on a player who scored nine times in 21 appearances last season and is an England Under-21 international.

“At the level we’re talking I think it’s a great deal,” the boss explained.

“Some players from League One have gone for big, big money to the Championship.

“In this window I think Adam Armstrong is a pretty good deal, value for money, but only time will tell how good a deal it is.

“Because we know everything about him, his personality and character, we have seen in training what he brings.

“You have to put in to context that he’s still a young boy with lots of lots of development and growth in him.

“We’re happy. When we discussed the numbers with Newcastle we were delighted it wasn’t £5m, £6m or £7m we were talking because those numbers have been bandied around for players with less experience than Adam.

“We’re delighted he’s here, we think the valuation is good for our football club but he has to do it on the grass and the longevity of his time here and the goals he scores is what the judgement of him will be.”

Armstrong spent much of his loan spell operating from the wide areas - but Mowbray has challenged him to cement a spot in his more favoured central role.

That is one in which Armstrong flourished during a previous loan spell at Coventry City in 2015/16 where under Mowbray he scored 20 league goals.

The boss added: “The challenge for Adam is to first of all get into our team in his preferred position, which is down the middle, but I’ve got great belief in him.

“I know he can score goals, I know the attributes he has, so we just have to provide the ammunition for him and I’m sure he’ll finish it off.

“This is now where he has to get his head down, focus on his football and become a big player for the club. He’s looking lean, looking fast, looking dynamic and we’re keeping him on a leash and hopefully let him go and let’s hope he can start on a positive note.”