A collective effort will be Rovers’ approach to replacing the goals of Adam Armstrong.

Armstrong secured a move to Southampton this week, for an initial £15m, on the back of his 29 goals last season while chief creator Harvey Elliott returned to parent club Liverpool at the end of his loan spell.

Money has been made available to help source Armstrong's replacement, with Southampton striker Michael Obafemi the club’s top target, Mowbray having studied the Republic of Ireland international closely over the summer.

Talks between Rovers, Obafemi and his representatives are set to continue, with the striker considering his options as he moves into the final 12 months of his deal at St Mary’s.

The club have stressed there are no guarantees over a potential move for the 21-year-old however, and will look at other options themselves should it become clear there is no progress being made.

Loan moves are expected to complete Rovers’ business outside the likelihood of a move for a permanent striker, with one for Brighton winger Reda Khadra in the pipeline.

Ben Brereton, Sam Gallagher and Tyrhys Dolan have all opened their accounts in the opening two matches, with goals from midfield a target for Mowbray in the final weeks of the window.

“It’s very hard to replace 29 goals but if we recruit two midfield players who score six or eight each and the centre halves score three each, Brereton and Sam both improve their tally from last season and then you start to get a bit closer,” Mowbray said.

“We need to find more goals from central midfield, our central defenders have to score more goals, the delivery from set plays has to be better, all of these things will add.

“We need midfield players to score seven and eight, they need to break the box and shoot from the edge of the box and I think we need to recruit them because I’m not sure we’ve got them in our club.”

With Armstrong gone, focus will turn to Gallagher and Brereton building on their eight and seven goals respectively.

They made a positive start, netting on the opening day, and Mowbray says the pair must get into double figures, with Dolan also challenged to up his tally.

But Mowbray has tasked new head of recruitment John Park with finding the attacking options that can help Rovers fire at the top end of the pitch.

He added: “John is working on that, I’ve told him what we need and how the club needs to improve and the goals we have to replace.

“If you take Adam’s goals and Harvey’s assists and goals and it’s nearly 50 we’re trying to find. It’s no easy with not a lot of money. There’s the task for John.

“I hope we can get it right and give the fans some more players to ‘wow’ them.

“Harvey Elliott last year was a special young player, I’ve seen him play for Liverpool and he’s looked amazing. Hopefully we can more of them, players who the fans can be excited by.”

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