Tony Mowbray wants Rovers to recruit players capable of impacting the first team to help move the club forward.

The combined cost of the starting XI for last weekend’s defeat to Bristol City was just £3m, spread across four players, only two of which were signed by Tony Mowbray.

Rovers splashed the cash on Ben Brereton last summer, but the 19-year-old is seen as a long-term investment after arriving from Nottingham Forest on a contract through to 2022.

Adam Armstrong is the only other player at the club to have cost a seven-figure sum, with the squad bolstered by Academy prospects and a number of free signings.

While Mowbray admits he won’t be forced in to spending cash for the sake of it, he acknowledges the next step for Rovers is to sign players who can make an immediate impact.

“Blackburn Rovers has to be a balanced team I think. We do have to produce through the Academy,” the boss told the Lancashire Telegraph.

“Recruitment, as I’ve always said, is key to any football club and we have to get it right as we move forward. We have to add the character of the player as well as the talent and the assets they bring to the team.

“If we can’t find the right ones then I’m not a fool, I don’t like to go and spend and waste money on players. Occasionally I will buy for the future but you we have to improve the team from this point forward.

“I would hope when the summer comes, however the season unfolds in front of us now, we’re buying players to improve the starting XI and the competition will be there for everyone in all positions.”

Of last weekend’s squad, six were regulars in the side that Mowbray inherited when taking charge two years ago.

The boss has brought through the likes of David Raya, Lewis Travis and Joe Nuttall, with Harrison Reed the only current loan player on the club’s books.

He added: “I have always said, that’s why there were no wholesale changes when I arrived really, I know I missed the window, but I liked the players I inherited and think there are some good footballers here.

“Some players left and the loan players returned but generally we kept a core of good footballers.”