Rovers’ part in the development of Harvey Elliott was key to Leeds United agreeing to the loan move for Ian Poveda.

Elliott scored seven times and contributed 11 assists during his season-long stay, his impact at Ewood Park seeing him rewarded with a new long-term contract at Anfield before making his first Premier League start at the weekend.

Leeds are hoping that Poveda can follow a similar path and return to Elland Road ready to make an impact on their first-team, with still three years left to run on the contract he signed when joining from Manchester City in 2020.

Rovers are continuing to develop strong relationships with Premier League clubs, with Leighton Clarkson following on from Elliott in joining from Liverpool, while Manchester City have sent Rovers loanees in the two previous years.

Barry Douglas was a different case when joining on loan from Leeds last season, but he got a move to Lech Poznan on the back of his year with Rovers, while the sides met in a pre-season friendly last month.

Poveda didn’t feature in that, and hasn’t been involved in the opening two Premier League fixtures, but Leeds plan to welcome him back into the fold next summer with the hope of a fruitful spell at Ewood Park under the tutelage of Tony Mowbray and his coaching staff.

Leeds director of football Victor Orta said: “We feel Ian can make an impact here in the future and we’ve been very impressed with how Blackburn have developed players such as Harvey Elliott at Liverpool. We hope Ian can get some game time and come back to us next season ready to fight.”