THE pressure on the Rovers recruitment team will be greater than ever as Tony Mowbray says every signing will need to be carefully considered because of the financial impact of coronavirus.

Rovers have begun their search for a new head of recruitment in the wake of the departure of Stuart Harvey who has headed up that department since 2018.

A busy summer looks to lie ahead for Rovers who have several senior players out of contract, while the future of Adam Armstrong is also an uncertain one with Premier League interest in the 20-goal striker.

Before then they hope to have a new transfer chief in place to fill the hole left by Harvey who is expected to join Sunderland in a similar role.

Asked how busy he expects Rovers to be in the summer window, Mowbray said: “It lines up with the financial side of what we’ve got.

“It would be great to sit here and say that we’ve got loads of money to spend and we can go and get some really top players who are going to get us to the top end of this league. It doesn’t always equate like that.

“We have to see what the budget is. But it’s been a year of a pandemic, I’m not anticipating the football club to throw loads of money at us.

“I’m thinking we’re going to have to be clever with our recruitment.”

Rovers made one permanent signing last summer for a transfer fee, bringing in Kaminski from KAA Gent.

They also did similar in the January window, bringing in highly-rated Crewe Alexandra left back Harry Pickering who returned to the League One side for the second half of the season.

Rovers have utilised the loan market more than ever this season, however, with five currently on their books, having finished the last previous Championship campaigns with two, and one, respectively.

And with finances set to be tight because of the increased losses owners Venky’s have had to fund in a year without any matchday revenue, Mowbray says temporary moves from Premier League clubs are likely to be on the agenda again.

“This summer will probably again be loans,” he explained.

“I’ve always spoken about how I would prefer to sign my own players rather than bring loans in because all you’re really doing is improving other club’s assets, or trying to.

“Let’s see what the summer brings. Your job is to try and improve the team every transfer window, let’s see.

“If you’ve got a big transfer fund and you’re going to be able to buy footballers that will definitely improve you, then great. But I’m not sure that’s going to be the case.

“So recruitment is going to have to be really considered and try and get the right ones, either free transfers or good loans from Premier League clubs, we’ll have to wait and see.”