Rovers have left a spot free in squad list submitted to the EFL which Tony Mowbray says could be used for a free agent signing.

Mowbray brought back Stewart Downing after the window closed last season and moved for Lewis Holtby in 2019 and hasn’t ruled out a similar deal this time around after failing to land his top striking target on deadline day.

Rovers are light on numbers after the departure of 13 players since the end of last season and only five new faces, while injuries and unavailability will hit hard for this weekend’s visit of Luton Town.

The club used up 24 of their 25 spaces, with Bradley Dack included by goalkeeper Antonis Stergiakis left out, and asked if there was the chance of a free agent signing, Mowbray told the Lancashire Telegraph: “I left it open for that very reason.

“My phone never stops ringing, John’s phone never stops ringing, we’ve had some pretty high profile footballers who are out of contract and looking for a job.

“My call or decision is where are they at, some haven’t played for 18 months, two years and I think it’s a big ask to potentially bring a foreign player over from Spain or Greece, or wherever it might be, to fit them into the Championship and think they will hit the ground running.

“It’s a bit of a gamble. Generally these out of contract players want to be well paid because they’ve had a decent career and have been paid up and are in a situation where they feel they can pick and choose the clubs who might be short in a certain area.

“I just don’t want to jump into a deal for a player just because his name is impressive or his stats are impressive I need and see and watch, and with some it’s difficult to find any footage over the last year or 18 months of them playing.”

Dack has been out injured since damaging his ACL for a second time in March, but hit a milestone in his rehabilitation earlier this month when he started light training on the training pitches.

Without a definitive return date, the 27-year-old is expected back before the end of the year, hence his inclusion in the squad.

“That’s why I put him in because I don’t know. That’s the cusp of what we think, around Christmas time,” Mowbray added

“What I wouldn’t want is for Dacky to be bouncing around, banging goals in on the training ground on December 14 and I’m going ‘sorry mate, you can’t play yet’.

“For the sake of putting him in the squad of a 25-man squad when numbers are quite small anyway, it wasn’t an issue for me.”