Ben Brereton doesn’t need to prove anything to Tony Mowbray, a manager who backed him not only in bringing him to the club for a substantial transfer fee but his continued messages of belief in the attacker.

However, this summer’s Copa America could well give Brereton an opportunity to highlight to his manager his ability to play in what he has always stated is his favoured starting role.

It is a process that Adam Armstrong has gone through. From his arrival at the club in January 2018 through to the early stages of 2020, he was seen trudging up and down the left flank, tireless in his defensive work, while still looking to affect the game at the other end.

Of his 64 goals, 39 have come since the start of 2020, with three more in the Carabao Cup in 2018/19 against Carlisle United and Bournemouth when used as a central striker.

Armstrong’s game has gone to another level since been handed the role of leading the line, his influence on the team enhanced.

Brereton, close friends with Armstrong, will have watched his rise with interest, and while he believes his team-mate is almost irreplaceable should the 24-year-old get a Premier League move that his 29 goal haul deserves, then Chile’s newest international will hope he’s the answer to Rovers’ striker search.

He has already made clear his desire in a more central role, and Sam Gallagher will also be watching the Armstrong situation with interest, the majority of the pair’s game-time for Rovers having come from the wide positions.

Indeed, Brereton last led the line on his own in September’s Carabao Cup defeat at Newcastle United, as he and Gallagher saw others preferred during Armstrong’s injury absences.

They did, interestingly, line up as a front pairing against Middlesbrough in October.

Chile are on the search for new attacking options ahead of what looks to be a transitional period in the La Roja team, and it was in a central role that Brereton was brought on.

“They asked me to make runs in behind the defence and to hold the ball up and to make a nuisance (of myself),” Brereton said of what coach Martin Lasarte asked of him.

In an enterprising cameo we saw the very best of what Brereton can offer, the running power, pace and added strength in which he has added to his game. He still looks short of being able to offer the back-to-goal work that some managers would want, as Mowbray did previously when looking for a like-for-like replacement for Danny Graham.

Rovers have gone about things differently since though, the diminutive figure of Armstrong leading the line alongside a more patient approach, but still offering a threat on the counter-attack.

Brereton’s finishing hasn’t proven as reliable as Armstrong, yet he could point to nowhere near the same level of opportunities, and his build-up play hasn’t always been up to the levels required.

What cannot be overlooked however is the confidence that Brereton’s Chile love-in can give him.

So long a player who looked weighed down by the price-tag hanging over him, but there is an infectiousness to Brereton’s energy, and while far from a player who would want to command the headlines, receiving the positivity he has will hopefully stand him in good stead upon his return to Rovers, whenever that may be.

It will be a delayed one, and having not had a full pre-season in 2018 prior to his arrival at Ewood Park, injured in the early stages of the 2019/20 campaign and the condensed nature of last summer, it is not a luxury he has had.

Indeed, apart from his six week absence through injury between November and December 2020, it will have been almost wall-to-wall football for Brereton since the players returned to training late in May of that year.

But for someone so starved of opportunities in his early time at Rovers, he will relish the minutes, and opportunities, he’s been afforded.

The influence of international football, and the knowledge it presents, helped take Ryan Nyambe’s game forward, the Namibian showing a level of maturity not previously seen in his demeanour, and then reflected on the pitch, something Brereton will look to replicate.

His next aim will be to win a first start when Chile face Bolivia in their second group game tomorrow night (10pm).

“I’m honoured to play for the Chilean national team, it is a great experience, so I’m really happy.

“I was really excited, a few nerves because I wanted to do well for the team, but to get on, it was a great moment for me and I was happy with the result.”