TONY Mowbray believes Dominic Samuel will add a new dimension to the Rovers attack after reuniting himself with the striker.

Samuel had been a long-term target for the Rovers head coach who snapped up the 23-year-old from Reading for a fee understood to be in the region of £500,000.

The pair previously worked together at Coventry in 2014/15, when loanee Samuel’s six goals helped keep the Sky Blues in League One.

And Mowbray was delighted to bring him to Ewood Park where he believes the striker will become a big hit.

“He’s a player I worked with for about a dozen games or so at Coventry at the end of a season where he helped the club retain its status that year,” Mowbray said.

“I like his personality, I like his work ethic. I think he fits the team we’re trying to build.

“Hopefully he can work alongside the likes of Danny Graham, who’s a different type of striker, and complement the team that we’re trying to put together.”

Mowbray had been keen to add mobility to his forward line, as well as competition to last season’s top scorer Danny Graham, who bagged his second of pre-season in the 8-0 win at York City.

Ben Gladwin has been used as an emergency striker in pre-season, because of the shortage of numbers in attack, with Anthony Stokes not part of Mowbray’s plans.

Mowbray believes Samuel to possess the necessary attributes to succeed in a Rovers shirt and is looking forward to watching him develop.

“He’s positive, he’s direct, he’s mobile, he’s strong,” Mowbray told the club’s official website.

“He’s what our team needs at this moment. He has the ability to run in behind defences and hopefully a hunger to score lots of goals.

“I think he’s a young player with raw attributes that we have to try and polish up and make into a big asset for the football club.

“He’s a player who can hurt the back of defences and that’s what Dominic will bring – some speed and power to the team and hopefully plenty of goals.”

Samuel scored twice for Reading in 11 Championship appearances, including one against Rovers at Ewood Park in December.