Tony Mowbray will spend the next two days in Europe scouting as Rovers widen their net for prospective signings.

Mowbray has made no secret of his desire to improve the scouting network and recruitment department at the club since his arrival in February 2017.

Plenty of hard work has gone in to that, with a number of scouts having travelled across Europe in recent weeks to look at players from the continent.

With the players afforded two days off after the Easter break, which brought Rovers six points, Mowbray will use the opportunity to spend time scouting himself, watching matches in Europe.

He said: “Sometimes, you need a bit of experience, quality and class to drag you over the line so we’re hoping to add in the summer with some of those attributes.

“We’re looking hard for all sorts of players, all over Europe.

“All the staff have been away in Europe on scouting missions and I am off to Europe myself where I’ll spend the next two days with my eye out for some talent.

“We’re just trying to find the right players that can help our squad move forward.”

Mowbray has already revealed he will travel to India following the end of this season to meet with the club’s owners to discuss his budget for this season.

The boss is keen to progress the club and mount a possible top six challenge next season, but knows investment will be needed to make that happen.

He added: “We’re not going to be resting on our laurels with what we have, because we want to hopefully make the competition in every department of the squad so that everyone is at their maximum.

“That’s the plan anyway, so we’ll have to wait and see whether those additions will be free transfers, or multi-million pound signings.

“I’m hoping they’ll be multi-million pound signings, but we’ll go to India at the end of the season and discuss next year’s budget with the owners.

“I think our end of season run helps our case with the owners, as it allows them to see some of the progression we’ve made as a football club.”

Mowbray feels his side have competed well for large parts, with the one disappointment this season being the goals conceded away from home and a run of just four points from 11 games after a perfect January.

That dented any possible hopes of a top six finish, but the boss doesn’t feel that’s out of reach next season.

Mowbray told the club website: “As well as them recognising the progression, I’m also ambitious and want us to progress, because I want to hopefully manage in the Premier League before my days are done in this business, and I don’t see any reason why we can’t achieve Premier League status with Blackburn Rovers.

“Saying that, however, the task does take investment, because we have to compete with the teams that have come down with parachute payments and those at the top end of the current table who sell-out their stadiums every week.”