Jon Dahl Tomasson believes Adam Wharton is making great strides which will see the technical midfielder kept around the Rovers squad.

Tomasson came close to handing the 18-year-old his debut off the bench on the opening day win over QPR, with Wharton having featured heavily in pre-season.

Rovers moved for Liverpool’s Tyler Morton on a season-long loan deal earlier this week which, as things stand, looks to have completed their midfield recruitment.

Wharton, alongside fellow Academy prospect Jake Garrett, will provide competition for new recruit Morton and first-team regulars Lewis Travis and John Buckley.

Tomasson says the balance for Rovers is to develop their own players as well as putting a winning side out on the pitch.

He said: “We want to create value over time, so we need to find the balance of winning and using youth.

“We don’t have the money as the rest of the clubs so we have to do things different and clever.”

Wharton, younger brother of first-team regular Scott, only signed his first professional contract earlier this year, but has trained with the senior squad throughout 2022.

He quickly impressed Tomasson who used him in four of the five friendlies and is set to stay around the first-team picture.

“I think we have seen with Adam he has done a great job, he is only 18 years old,” the head coach added.

“The vision on the ball is extremely high. The intensity without the ball, we are teaching him.

“He has improved 60 per cent without the ball on last season. That is a big difference for a young boy.

“We have to take care of him, we want him to be steady.

“It’s a player who has done really well in pre-season, you saw a couple of mistakes against Lincoln but these boys need those games to become better.”

Morton is Rovers’ first move into the loan market this summer, with Callum Brittain and Sam Szmodics both brought in for undisclosed fees.

Tomasson says there is further money to spend, irrespective of what happens with Ben Brereton.

The Chile international will continue to be a part of Rovers’ first-team plans despite the ongoing uncertainty over his future.

Rovers are in the market for further signings before the September 1 deadline, particularly in defence where their options have been left stretched following the departures of Darragh Lenihan and Jan Paul van Hecke, as well as injuries to Hayden Carter and Sam Barnes.

Tomasson added: “I think we have money to spend, we have spent money on two of the three signings. We can spend money, we can’t spend £100m.

“We can spend a bit but not the same competition as the other big Championship clubs with the parachute money. It’s a different story.”

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