Replacing the outgoing senior players is the priority for Rovers in the summer as Tony Mowbray admits recruitment will need to be focused on all areas.

Rovers have already confirmed the departures of Lewis Holtby, Corry Evans and Stewart Downing, with experienced duo Elliott Bennett and Bradley Johnson also seeing their deals up for renewal.

That will leave holes in midfield, with Tom Trybull also returning to Norwich City after his loan spell came to an end, but Mowbray says recruitment won’t just be confined to that area.

Instead, the manager is focusing on how those positions can be filled with the finances available as he heads into his fifth summer in charge at Ewood Park.

“I think every area of the pitch needs looking at,” Mowbray told the Lancashire Telegraph.

“The issue of course is how do you replace the people that are leaving?

“They’re leaving as free transfers, so do you replace them with free transfers?

“Are we going to raid the lower leagues and spend a few hundred grand on a player we feel is good enough? We’ve done that with a left back from Crewe (Harry Pickering) who trained for a few days and showed the good quality he’s got and how he can help progress the ball up the pitch.

“We have to fill the holes, that’s the job in the summer, not just my job because very rarely, apart from the lower leagues, does the manager do everything.

“You have departments that help you do that and everyone at the club knows where the holes are in the team and we’re working hard behind the scenes, working with other clubs, agents and players to try and fill the spaces and make our team a better football team if we can.”

Sam Clucas, of Stoke City, was mentioned as a possible target by the national press, while Sheffield Wednesday's Adam Reach is also expected to come under consideration.

The Rovers players being retained, and coaching staff, will now enjoy a break before returning at the end of June to begin their preparations for the 2021/22 season.

And Mowbray says the pre-season plans are already sorted, but for the second successive summer there won’t be a training camp in Austria.

“We won’t be going abroad this year. We’ve already sorted the pre-season to a vast majority,” he added. “We’ve got a lot of games pencilled in, we know where we’re going with the group, we’ve sorted out many things.”