ROVERS will fly out to Austria for their pre-season training camp tomorrow morning with the club close to finalising a deal for a striker.

Head coach Tony Mowbray has been working hard to add to his forward line having tabled bids for prospective signings last month.

And Rovers appear to have been given the green light, with their fifth summer signing set to join the rest of the squad in Salzburg ahead of next Friday’s friendly against Sparta Prague.

“I hope that we will have at least one flying out to join us in Austria,” Mowbray said of his quest to bring in new signings.

“We’re working away behind the scenes as we have all summer.

“It’s not easy, particularly early on.

“We are short in the forward areas, we only really have Danny Graham and that’s what we’re working on.

“Hopefully we will be able to add one this (coming) week and then two or three more to fill in around the pitch.”

Mowbray has had to be patient in his search for a new striker as he looks to add competition to last season’s top scorer Danny Graham who netted the winner in the pre-season friendly at Barrow on Saturday.

But he expects to have at least one new recruit on board before Rovers take on Sparta Prague in their second friendly on Friday.

Trialist Paul Caddis will also fly out to Austria having been part of the squad since they returned from their end of season break.

The 29-year-old is a free agent after his short-term deal with Bury expired at the end of the season and is well known to Mowbray from their time working together at Celtic.

Rovers have made four summer signings in all this summer, with their quartet of new midfielders getting their first run out for the club against Barrow.

Mowbray is targeting two more permanent additions, before bolstering his squad later in the window with the addition of at least two Premier League loanees.

Mowbray has had success in that particular market, with Adam Armstrong, Jacob Murphy and Ryan Kent all thriving under his tutelage during his time at Coventry City in 2015/16.

However, Rovers may have to wait until later in the window for those particular deals given the reluctance of top flight clubs to loan out their top talent before their pre-season has ended.

Mowbray added: “We might have to wait on one or two.

“We will probably have one more permanent signing and then look to add a couple more young, high quality footballers from the Premier League to beef our squad up.

“You need to have that underbelly of your own players, you can’t build a team on loan players.

“We’re trying to add players to the squad that will help us this season.

“We need beefing up a little bit, but watching training there are some good players and there will be good competition all over the pitch, apart from up front at the minute but we will solve that pretty soon.”

Meanwhile, Hibs boss Neil Lennon hasn’t ruled out a move for Rovers striker Anthony Stokes who missed the Barrow win through injury.

Stokes has been linked with a return to Easter Road throughout the summer window, with Hibs having also been knocked back in their pursuit of the Irishman in January.

A loan move would be the most likely scenario, but given the Scottish Premiership side’s wage structure, they would require significant compromise with Rovers over the covering of the 28-year-olds wages.