SAM Allardyce believes Rovers’ Villa Park finale could provide a ‘priceless’ boost to their summer budget as he goes in search of that missing piece of the jigsaw.

The Rovers boss was rightfully delighted as his young Blackburn Rovers side completed a Premier League double over Aston Villa – admitting the extra money their 10th place finish has earned could be crucial.

Allardyce will spend the next few weeks desperately scouring Europe for a goal scorer and, while he wasn’t ready to sacrifice youth development for cash yesterday, he admits the end result is more than a vital bonus.

He said: “It has been a fantastic end to the season for us and it shows you the difference a couple of wins makes. Rather than 14th in the table, and we would be quite satisfied with that, we have finished 10th.

“We have beaten two of the big guns in the Premier League, in Arsenal and Villa, and the difference that has made is around £3million to the budget for the summer and on our limited budget that makes a massive difference.

“It was nice to have the opportunity not to have to worry about the result even though we wanted the money, but it was nice to go out and play young players again and give them a taste of the Premier League.”