Jon Dahl Tomasson has insisted there will 'always be rumours' after the Blackburn Rovers head coach was linked with Stoke City.

The Danish head coach has been linked with the vacancy at the Bet365 Stadium after they sacked Alex Neil last week. Tomasson features high on the betting for the Stoke job and is reported to be 'admired' by the hierarchy in the Potteries.

Tomasson has 18 months left to run on his Blackburn contract and told The Lancashire Telegraph earlier this week that no talks had been held over extending his stay at Ewood Park.

When quizzed about the links to Stoke, the Rovers boss insisted he is working day and night for the football club but conceded rumours and speculation will always be part of the game.

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"I think there will always be rumours in this football game," Tomasson told The Lancashire Telegraph. "If you know me, I spend 24 hours a day working for Rovers to try and make things better.

"If you look at me as a football player or a coach, rumours are part of this business. There needs to be entertainment, the press need to write something, the press need something and that is normal. It's a great game.

"The passion of the game, people need to be involved. All I can say is that I'm one and a half years into my contract, I signed a three-year deal.

"I think we are playing with a very clear identity of football which I am proud of and I know that our Rovers fans like. Rumours are all over the place.

"I think it's always important to have rumours. When I was in Italy, for Milan, I think I got sold 15, 16, 17 times. I stayed there for three years and Italy at that time was even more crazy. It's part of the game, that's normal."

Sondre Tronstad's form has been particularly impressive in recent matches. The Norwegian took time to adapt to English football but is now producing his best form.

His partnership with Adam Wharton continues to grow with the pair complementing each other extremely well. Whilst Tronstad can do the 'dirty side' of the game, it frees Wharton up to be more creative higher up the field.

Tomasson reiterated the need for patience with new signings and challenged Tronstad to continue his progression in the team. 

"First of all, when you come to a new place, it takes time to settle," he said. "We saw that with Sammie Szmodics as well. 

"Football players are not robots, not at all. They need to get used to the surroundings, their team-mates, the manager and the league. It's a great league, a beautiful league with a lot of intensity and good leagues. It's difficult to match that in a lot of leagues in Europe.

"I think he's developing well over time. He is helping the team in a very positive way. You can see his development on the ball, he is playing more balls forward.

"I still think he can play more balls forward but you see that improvement, I have tried to push him with that from the beginning. You're trying to find balance in the squad, someone can be out of position which helps someone else come into the right areas."

Rovers' challenge doesn't get any easier this weekend with a tricky test on the South Coast against Southampton. Russell Martin's side are unbeaten in 13 games and have shown impressive form in the last two months.

It will be the first time Adam Armstrong has played against his former club, having left the club just over two years ago. The £20million forward is two goals behind Sam Szmodics in the race for the Championship golden boot award.

"We are facing a very good team," he said. "We are playing a team with the parachute money, we spoke about it against Leeds.

"They're out of our league regarding the budget and the money situation but we would like to be the party killer. We will go with a no-fear attitude, they are unbeaten in 13 games and we want to beat them and then there will be plenty of games they will go to win because they will be competing to be a Premier League club.

"We need that no-fear attitude which we do have. In the last five away games, we have four away wins. Like Leeds and Leicester, they're 'on loan' in this league, if you can say that.

"They have a lot of Premier League players, a lot of international players. They're a good team."