Tony Mowbray feels Rovers are up to six players short as he looks for a busy end to the transfer window.

Adam Armstrong’s move to Southampton was confirmed ahead of the Carabao Cup defeat to Morecambe with Rovers heading into the final throes of the window still waiting to make their first addition.

The Rovers boss hopes that will change in the coming days, with a move for Brighton winger Reda Khadra understood to be close, while the club are also looking to push ahead with a move for Southampton striker Michael Obafemi.

Mowbray said talks are planned with the Republic of Ireland international as Rovers look to replace Armstrong who finished as top scorer last season with 29 goals.

With the season up and running, Rovers have four more Championship fixtures before the window closes on August 31, with Mowbray saying he is having to manage his squad through this period, not least given injuries to Bradley Johnson and Joe Rankin-Costello, as well as long-term absentees Scott Wharton and Bradley Dack.

“I think every football manager has to do that. A year or two they tried to line up the end of the window with the start of the season and I’m not sure why it changed back, I don’t know the reasons,” Mowbray said.

“We all have to deal with it, the season has started the window is still open and you have three weeks of business still to do.

“We’ll try and do the business we want.

“I’m hoping we can sign four, five, six players between now and the end of the window because I genuinely feel that’s what we need to sign to give us a squad that can try and compete.

“Let’s wait and see how the next few weeks go and whether we can spend any money on players or are looking at free transfers.”

Loan deals and free transfers had looked the most likely avenue for Rovers in this window, but the Armstrong deal appears to have given Mowbray some wiggle-room, with any deal for 21-year-old Obafemi to be a permanent deal should it go through.

“It’s something we’re working on,” Mowbray said of potential incomings.

“Let’s hope by Saturday we’ve signed a player or two, but I wouldn’t envisage them being involved at the weekend.

“We’ve got just under three weeks now, there’ll be signings, we just have to be patient with that and the team will get the help that it needs hopefully.”

Asked if talks were planned with Obafemi, Mowbray added: “There’s a plan to do that, it’s for me to talk about the boy at this moment.

“He’s probably sitting there thinking he’s going to be playing for Southampton this season, then all of sudden two centre forwards come in. Let’s wait and see what the next few days brings.

“Obafemi is a totally separate deal to Armstrong so if that doesn’t work then that’s okay we have other options we can look at.”