STEVE Kean will tell Rovers’ owners ‘our young stars are crucial to the club’s future’ as he starts to plot a long-term managerial future for himself.

Blackburn’s caretaker boss landed in India yesterday to meet with his new bosses for the first time as he seeks answers on what is expected of him, and will look for assurances he does hold the final say in footballing decisions.

Venky’s chairman Anuradha Desai was expected to tell Kean he has their full support for the immediate future after she told the Lancashire Telegraph yesterday the permanent job was his to lose.

She also insisted more than £5million would be made available to Kean for the January transfer window, with the Scot hoping to get clarity on his exact budget and future.

Kean took the gamble to jet off to India yesterday, with both parties wanting to end recent confusion, and will return to Rovers today to prepare for the Boxing Day visit of Stoke City – weather permitting.

Rovers’ midfield injury crisis will see Kean looking for cash to spend on new faces in January and yesterday’s meeting was expected to include talks on transfer targets and plans for the future.

While fully aware of the need for reinforcements, Kean will also be determined to get across his view that Rovers’ young guns already at the club have a big part to play in the future.

He said: ”I think the youth must come through our club. You have seen Phil Jones, Grant Hanley, Martin Olsson. All these guys are Premier League players and have all come through the system.

“On a good day they are probably worth a staggering amount of money. That is money saved and if someone comes in to get them they are going to have to pay top dollar.

“I have been working very closely with the young development group as we call it. Jones, Hanley, Olsson, Hoilett. I have been working a lot with them and they are really going to come strong.

“Added to the blend of the senior players they are all going to be top players. I am very confident we can get results over Christmas and be pushing 30 points very quickly.

“We need to know what the budget is and then we can decide whether we bring in an established players or whether it is a young player we bring in - who might take six months to develop into a potential bigger value.

“That is something we are going to have to thrash out and discuss.”