Rovers have begun the search for a short-term option in attack with news that Dilan Markanday will require surgery on a serious hamstring injury and won’t play again this season.

Markanday is understood to have sustained the injury in the closing stages of Wednesday night’s defeat at Hull City, a little over 24 hours after his signing from Tottenham Hotspur was confirmed.

The injury is a cruel blow to the 20-year-old and also Rovers whose options in attack are limited by injury to Tyrhys Dolan and Ian Poveda and Ben Brereton being away on international duty that will see him miss two matches.

“We’re working hard behind the scenes to fill the gaps that we see in the squad,” Mowbray told the Lancashire Telegraph.

“Dilan is our player, not a loan player, but we need to replace him. We’ve had lots of conversations with a lot of people in football about generally young players because of the finance.

“We’re looking at what we can afford and hopefully we’ll move forward with that quickly to replace someone who had filled a hole but now hasn’t because of the injury.

“Hopefully over the next few days we’ll have something to say about another option, someone of a similar ilk.

“They will probably be young, athletic and can manipulate the ball but won’t have had much first-team experience.”

Tonight's opponents Middlesbrough have strengthened in the window with the additions of two attacking talents on loan in Folarin Balogun and Aaron Connolly.

Balogun has 14 goals in Premier League, two more than Markanday who Rovers signed on a permanent deal this month.

Irishman Connolly has struggled for minutes at Brighton before his Boro move and Mowbray says the 21-year-old was a player that Rovers did enquire about.

However, with two Brighton loanees already on their books in Reda Khadra and Jan Paul van Hecke Mowbray understands why it was Boro who got in there for the attacker.

“I think every club in the Championship will have asked about Aaron Connolly,” Mowbray added.

“He’s a lad who probably just needs to play. He’s at a club with a lot of players out on loan and he was probably getting frustrated by his lack of game-time, getting 10 minutes here and 20 minutes there in the Premier League.

“Middlesbrough got in there, got the deal done, he was somebody that we discussed and looked at.

“Brighton probably didn’t want to have so many players at one club and that’s fine.

“They’ve got lots of options.

“Balogun is a huge talent, (Andraz) Sporar is scoring goals, (Duncan) Watmore is also scoring, Chris (Wilder) has got some good options at the top end of the pitch and they’re doing really well.

“From my perspective it’s good to see Middlesbrough doing well, it’s where I’m from, the team I grew up supporting but hopefully they don’t do well on Monday night.”

Markanday is set for surgery on the hamstring injury and while Mowbray isn’t putting a timescale on his absence, he will miss the rest of the season.

He added: “It looks a pretty severe one and, without putting a timescale on it, he has a pretty bad hamstring injury that will keep him out for more than a couple of weeks. It’s a huge blow for both Dilan and us.

“It’s really hard, especially considering this is the first move away from his family and the club he’d been at since he was nine.

“To make that move and then to find out you’ll be out of action for a considerable amount of time, it’s so disappointing

“We’ll be there for Dilan and will support him through this time. Everything will be done professionally to look after him. He’s in safe hands.

“He’s a loss for us because we felt he would really have an impact with us for the second part of the season.”