BLACKBURN Rovers boss Gary Bowyer is ready to meet Venky’s and discover his budget for next season.

Bowyer is expected to fly out to India in the next two days for talks with Rovers’ Pune-based owners.

And it is only after that meeting has taken place that Bowyer will be able to put his summer transfer strategy into action.

But the Ewood chief has already made it clear Rovers must strive to improve a squad which finished two points and two places outside the Championship play-off positions last season.

“We can’t stand still,” said Bowyer, who has been busy identifying potential targets. “We’ve got to add and improve in certain areas.

“We need to challenge the existing squad in order to push them further and improve them but I wouldn’t expect anywhere near the amount of players we brought in last summer.”

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Bowyer made 12 signings – 10 permanent and two on loan – last summer.
But this time around it is unlikely he will make many more than four signings – with a right back a priority – provided his squad remains intact.

Bowyer, after guiding revived Rovers to within touching distance of the top six in his first full season in charge, said he had been given no indication by Venky’s that he will have to sell any of his stars – such as top scorer Jordan Rhodes – this summer.

But with the club’s Premier League parachute payments being halved and Financial Fair Play coming into force in January, Bowyer already knows he must continue to move on the players who are not in his plans.

“We have to reduce the wage bill,” said Bowyer, who believes it will take another two summer transfer windows to get Rovers’ squad to where he sees fit.

“Financial Fair Play is being talked about a lot and that is something we have to take into consideration.

“We have players out on loan at the moment who might generate a bit of interest.

“We might see one or two of them depart but if not we have to deal with that and manage that.”

Also on the agenda in India will be the futures of David Dunn and Markus Olsson. The pair are the only senior players Bowyer has out of contract this summer.

The Rovers boss will be accompanied on the planned trip to Pune by Rovers’ director of communications Alan Myers.