TOP scorer Rudy Gestede insists his sole focus is on helping Blackburn Rovers finish their season strongly.

But Rovers boss Gary Bowyer fears there will be further Premier League interest in the 19-goal striker come the end of the campaign.

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However Bowyer has warned potential suitors that Gestede’s valuation has shot up after his superb hat-trick in Saturday’s 3-3 home draw with Nottingham Forest.

Rovers rejected a £3.5m offer from Crystal Palace for the towering target man in the January transfer window.

Last week Palace, along with top-flight rivals Hull City and Southampton, were linked with a fresh bid for the 26-year-old.

But Gestede is looking no further than the final three games of Rovers’ campaign – the first of which comes tomorrow at home to relegation-threatened Millwall.

“I’m focused on the next three games and then we’ll see after that – I don’t think about this now, it’s not a good time to think about,” he said.

“I don’t know, we’ll see, if next season I’m in the Premier League, we’ll see what happens.

“But to be fair, nothing happened now. This season is not finished and my focus is with Blackburn and I’m a Blackburn player. I don’t think about something else.”

Gestede has now scored 31 goals in 49 starts – and 62 appearances in total – for Rovers since his £200,000 move from Cardiff City in January 2014.

It is understood Venky’s were holding out for a fee of around £5m for him in January.

But after scoring the second hat-trick of headers for the club – his first came a year ago tomorrow in a 4-2 win at Birmingham City – Bowyer stated that Rovers owners’ asking price should be higher now.

“With performances like that, I’m not stupid, I know there’s going to be interest in him,” said Bowyer.

“The owners had a valuation in January and in my opinion now that valuation has gone up. If anybody was to be interested in him, they would have to meet that valuation for our owners. They have proven that before.

“With performances like that, he can only keep doing what he can control. I thought he was fantastic but, if I was him, I would be annoyed that we haven’t won the game.

“From an individual performance, the lad can’t do wrong.

“There’s loads more to come from him. Having worked with him, I can see that.

“Again, this week, he has been fantastic. He had a first-year scholar training with him (Lewis Mansell), who plays in a similar position, and he was passing on tips to him. It was brilliant to watch.

“He is such a humble person and he knows himself he can get better.”

Man-of-the-match Gestede put Rovers in front on three separate occasions on Saturday.

But for the 10th time this season they failed to take three points after going in front.

Gestede said: “It means a lot to score three goals but it’s not as good a feeling as we didn’t win the game. When you score three goals at home you should win the game.

“We’ve not been ruthless enough in both boxes this season, scoring goals and keeping clean sheets.

“It’s cost us the play-offs because, apart from maybe Norwich City, we’ve got nothing less than the other teams.

“With the team that we’ve got we should be there but now we’ve got to get ready for next season.”