Pep Guardiola has given his blessing to Taylor Harwood-Bellis’ loan move to Rovers.

Manchester City sanctioned the loan move over the weekend for the teenager who will spend the rest of the season at Ewood Park.

Harwood-Bellis has featured eight times for City’s first-team under Guardiola, including four this season, and when Rovers first enquired about the 19-year-old's availability, they were told he would be staying at the Etihad.

He played in the FA Cup win at Cheltenham Town last month, and was also on the bench for two Premier League games in January against Chelsea and Brighton.

However, Eric Garcia’s failure to secure a move to Barcelona, and the return to fitness of Aymeric Laporte, saw the teenager free to further his development out on loan.

Rovers won the race for his signature, and Guardiola said: “He’ll play in a good competition at a good historical team, he’ll play real opponents.

“The academy is good for a short time but he needs to grow as a player and he doesn’t have many minutes here in the first team.

“He has had two seasons training with us, there are other young lads training in their first season. This is the best way to see him, in a good competition.”