Tony Mowbray says he wouldn’t deny Adam Armstrong, or any player, the chance of a Premier League move and believes a possible sale could benefit Rovers moving forward.

However, Mowbray’s ideal scenario would be to see his 20-goal top scorer sign a new deal and boost the club’s prospects of challenging for promotion next season, with his current deal set to expire in 2022.

While there were no offers for the 24-year-old in January, West Ham United have been strongly linked with a move for the striker. Newcastle United will have an eye on any possible interest, with a sell-on clause in the deal that brought Armstrong to Ewood Park for £1.75m in 2018.

Mowbray has said previously that Armstrong would be better served by playing regular football, but in recent weeks has said the striker has demonstrated his Premier League quality.

Reports over the weekend suggest Rovers would want £25m to facilitate a move for Armstrong, and Mowbray said: “Of course, if the Premier League comes calling I would never try and deny a player the chance to go and play in the Premier League as long as the club is recompensed correctly for the value we thought and what we could reinvest.

“That’s a potential scenario. The other scenario is that he stays, signs a new deal and scores loads and loads of goals and helps us get to the Premier League.

“Footballers and the power they have, they can sort of dictate a little bit of course. Let’s wait and see.

“I hope Adam feels he’s at the right place, I’ve had Adam before at Coventry, he scored 20 goals that season, he’s still a relatively young player.

“He’ll have to keep scoring goals, he’s done very well so far.

“Let’s see what time brings. He’s not the only asset we’ve got at this club, I think we’ve got three or four really good assets that would be quite expensive in the market.

“Hopefully they all want to stay and help this club get to where we want to get to.”

Armstrong joined Rovers initially on loan in January 2018 and scored nine times in 21 games before signing permanently in that summer.

He now has scored 55 times in 151 appearances for the club who have approached him about the prospect of a new contract with the four year deal he signed when joining from Newcastle United expiring next summer.