BLACKBURN Rovers skipper Grant Hanley hopes Jordan Rhodes will still be at Ewood Park when the new Championship season gets underway on August 8.

Rhodes remains the subject of interest from fellow Championship side Middlesbrough despite Venky’s rejecting a bid of £10m, rising to £12m if the north east club gain promotion.

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The striker publicly stated that he was ‘unhappy’ that he had not been granted permission to speak to Middlesbrough but Hanley knows how important Rhodes is to Rovers and says the squad want him to remain with the club.

“Of course we do, somebody with Jordan’s record, he scores that many goals, it’s always a massive asset to a team,” the Rovers captain said. “So it’s a bit of a no-brainer, hopefully Jordan is here this year.”

Rovers open their season at home to Wolves in less than a fortnight’s time and still face the dilemma of how to escape from a transfer embargo that first came into force on January 1.

Hanley himself has now been linked with interest from elsewhere, but the skipper is fully focused on the new season with Rovers.

He insists promotion must remain the club’s target despite the fact that transfer restrictions have left them with a small squad and seen some people write off their chances of going up this season.

“I think we’ve got to look towards promotion, that’s first and foremost,” he said.

“We’ll be working hard towards that.

“People have had their opinion on Blackburn for a while now, what they should and shouldn’t be doing.

“We’ve got a tight group of lads here and I can assure you it doesn’t affect us at all.

“We’ve got our mindset, we’re focused on our job and what we want to achieve for this club. We’re quite confident in the lads we’ve got.

“If people are writing us off that’s the first I’ve heard of it because it’s not something we look at. It’s not something that bothers us.

“But we have a tight group so it might bring us closer together.

“That’s something the manager has done really well since he came in. He’s got a good group of lads, everybody’s together and everybody’s pulling in the same direction.

“The lads will tell you there’s a good team atmosphere about the place.”

Rovers are still aiming to add to their squad and are continuing to monitor West Ham United centre back Doneil Henry.

The Canadian had a successful if very brief loan period with Rovers last season and Bowyer said then that he would be interested in another loan deal for the 22-year-old once he returned from a serious hamstring tear, which cut short his spell at Ewood Park.

Henry is now fit again and has been involved in West Ham’s friendlies against Peterborough United and Charlton Athletic.

Bowyer said: “We’re delighted Doneil’s back playing.

“He’s a fantastic player who has made a great recovery, we’re really pleased for him and we’ll just continue to monitor his progress on that.”