Harry Chapman will get the chance to impress in pre-season for Rovers before a decision is taken on his long-term future.

Tony Mowbray has confirmed that Rovers will trigger the 12-month option in the contract of Chapman who is currently impressing out on loan at League One side Shrewsbury Town.

There he has scored six times in 15 appearances and become a key man in the Shrews’ resurgence in 2021.

Chapman insisted last week that the ‘ball was in Blackburn’s court’ when it came to his future, with Mowbray revealing the option will be triggered in the deal the winger signed when joining from Middlesbrough in January 2019.

That will keep Chapman under contract until 2022, and Mowbray says before a decision is taken on the winger’s possible involvement next season, he will get the opportunity to impress in training, and the pre-season friendlies.

“Harry Chapman will come back in pre-season undoubtedly,” Mowbray said.

“We have an option here on Harry and that will be triggered and then we’ll see how he looks through pre-season, see what he’s doing and see how close we feel he is to impacting our starting XI and our team and we’ll make a call with it.

“I’ll sit down and talk to him. He’ll play some pre-season games and hopefully he becomes a big asset.”

Chapman has made 12 substitute appearances in the Championship since re-signing for Rovers just over two years ago, having previously been on loan in the League One promotion campaign of 2017/18.

Now 23, Mowbray says the intention of the loan move was to give Chapman a taste of regular first-team football, having played much of the first half of the season with Rovers Under-23s, scoring twice and making four assists in five Premier League 2 appearances.

Rovers have monitored Chapman’s progress out on loan, but Mowbray says he has some way to go to break into the first-team at Ewood Park, with Tyrhys Dolan having jumped ahead of him in the queue.

“Harry was mainly sent out, yes to play football, but to realise what it is to be a footballer and how you deal with disappointment of not being selected, how you deal with doing really well and everybody talking about you, how you deal with the day-to-day training when it’s really hard,” Mowbray added.

“Harry had to grasp all of that really. He’s still a relatively young guy. He’s got talent and that’s why he’s here. I signed him and it’s not as if I don’t know anything about Harry Chapman, I know all about him.

“What he needs to do is mentally get tougher and more robust and then he has to produce for us.”