Rovers are looking to get to the bottom of Jack Vale’s injury worries after the striker limped out of his comeback for the Under-23s.

Vale twice went down in the opening 20 minutes of Rovers’ defeat to Arsenal and replaced by Sam Burns inside the opening quarter.

That was his first action since the penultimate match of the Championship season when he made an impressive cameo off the bench against Reading, hitting the bar late on.

However, an injury on the eve of the opening pre-season friendly against Fleetwood Town set the teenager back, and had he been fit, then unavailability issues in the first-team squad could have seen him force his way into Tony Mowbray’s plans.

Vale first made an appearance in a first-team squad at Barnsley in June, but has struggled with muscle injuries since, something Under-23s boss Billy Barr says must be addressed.

The hope is the Wales youth international will be fit for the game at Brighton on Monday, November 23, and to get a consistent run of games under his belt.

Barr felt Vale didn’t do himself justice in the days leading up to the Arsenal game, or in the time he was on the pitch, and says Vale must make use of all the help available to him to overcome the issue.

He said: “Jack’s said it’s his thigh, but if I’m being honest then he hadn’t trained well for the last few days.

“Whether he’s been protecting it and it’s shown, he’s learning for himself.

“If you’re not right then don’t start. Don’t go out and play like he did, put your hand up, tell someone you’re not right and we’ll have someone else on.

“We want fit footballers and Jack at his best looks a lot better than he did (against Arsenal).

“Jack at his best, if he stays fit then he’s potentially in the gaffer’s first team squad because of the injuries and other things.

“He needs to look at himself and get to the bottom of what it is. He needs to speak up, have an opinion, because he’s a young man now who has qualified people around him to help him out.

“Hopefully it’s not a long-term injury, hopefully he’ll be back for the trip to Brighton.”

Vale signed for Barrow on loan in March, but failed to feature for the Bluebirds before lockdown struck.

Dan Butterworth is another Rovers attacker needing to overcome his injury issues, having been plagued with a back problem for over a year.