GARY Bowyer is absolutely certain that Jordan Rhodes and Rudy Gestede will continue to give their all for Blackburn Rovers if they are denied moves away from Ewood Park.

Both players have publicly indicated that they are ambitious to play in the Premier League and may be interested in moving elsewhere, with Rhodes saying he was ‘unhappy’ that he had not been granted permission to speak to Middlesbrough.

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Rovers have turned down a bid from Middlesbrough of around £10m, rising to £12m if Rhodes helps them to promotion, but boss Aitor Karanka has confirmed that the Teesside club remain eager to secure a deal.

“For me, it is important that Jordan said what he did,” Karanka said.

“If I was the Blackburn manager, or people at the club, I would not like to have a player who is not happy in my team.”

Gestede, valued at around £8m, has also been heavily linked with a move away from Rovers. Aston Villa, Watford and Norwich City are all said to be interested.

But Venky’s refused to sell Rhodes to Hull City a year ago, while the club also rejected a bid from Crystal Palace for Gestede in January.

Bowyer knows from those situations that both strikers will give their full commitment if they are still at Ewood Park for the opening game of the season at home to Wolves on August 8.

The Rovers manager said: “Whatever happens to Jordan and Rudy, if they’re still here there’s no doubt or questioning their professionalism at all, and I will vouch for the pair of them on that.

“I work with them every day and I see them. The way that they’ve handled the speculation, in Jordan’s case for 18 months is unbelievable, because you don’t know until you’re in that position how you would react.

“I think that the pair of them have dealt with it unbelievably well.

“When they’ve both commented all they’re talking about it being ambitious and you have to say that that’s what you want. You want ambitious players.”

Rovers know they must weigh up the fact that the sale of one of their star strikers could go a long way to having their transfer embargo lifted, but Venky’s are determined to stand firm on their valuations of both players.

They are also extremely reluctant to sell Rhodes to a Championship rival, even if Middlesbrough offer a guaranteed £12m.

Karanka added: “I don’t know what is going to happen, but everybody knows Jordan and what he can do.

“But let’s see. At the moment, Jordan is not with us so I can’t really say anything about him.”

Bowyer spoke to Rhodes on Friday after the striker publicly stated that he would like to hold talks to Middlesbrough.

Reports have suggested that Middlesbrough owner Steve Gibson is eager to speak to Venky’s personally to persuade them to agree to a deal.

There have even been suggestions that Rhodes would like to talk to Venky’s to gain permission to speak to the north east club.

But Bowyer revealed that Rhodes, who signed a new five-year deal 12 months ago, did not say anything to him about wanting to speak to Rovers’ Indian owners.

“He’s not mentioned that,” the manager said. “The owners are the owners, they make the decisions.”

“It’s a situation where you look at Middlesbrough in terms of the spending power they have and how they’ve gone about it this summer.

“Obviously they’ve targeted one of the best finishers in the division and I fully understand why Middlesbrough would do that.

“I don’t want to lose any of my strikers, I have a very good relationship with them.

“We’ve spoken openly, if they’re here for the Wolves game fantastic, nobody will be more happy than me and the supporters.

“If they’ve gone then we’ll shake hands and wish them all the best, because that will be because the owners have decided the valuation has been met that they see fit for them.”

Rhodes is close to a return after picking up an ankle injury in a friendly at Accrington Stanley a fortnight ago, while Gestede missed Saturday’s 2-0 win at Oldham Athletic after sustaining a knock to his knee in training.

Rovers travel to Bury tomorrow night before hosting Wigan on Saturday in their final pre-season game.

Bowyer hopes both Rhodes and Gestede might be involved at Bury.

“We certainly hope so,” the boss said. “I watched Jordan train with the fitness guys on Saturday morning. He’s out on the grass again and striking balls, so we certainly hope he will continue to train again today.

“He might join in with the rest of the group and if that’s the case we’ll make a call tomorrow.

“I certainly would hope that they would both be ready to play on Saturday at home to Wigan.”