Watford are the latest side have joined the race for Adam Armstrong whose future remains undecided with a little over a month of the transfer window to go.

Rovers have rejected one bid from Southampton, understood to be in the region of £8million, while unconfirmed reports over the weekend suggested Watford have had an offer of close to double that, £15m, turned down.

That is also said to include striker Andre Gray as a potential makeweight, the second such striker to have been mooted as being included in a deal. The previous option was Michael Obafemi of Southampton, however, that prospect never got off the ground, with the Saints not returning with a second bid.

Swap deals are notoriously difficult to do given the number of moving parts, and the main hope for sides looking to prise Armstrong away from Ewood Park is to get close to the £20m mark, meaning despite all the speculation, his situation remains unchanged.

Sides have been reluctant to do that as yet despite Armstrong’s impressive season in 2020/21 that saw him score 29 goals, second only in the Championship to Ivan Toney.

But with just a year left to run on his contract, sides haven’t been willing to get close to the asking price, with Newcastle waiting in the wings with their 40 per cent sell-on clause on any profit that would be activated.

Watford have added to their attacking ranks this summer with the signing of free agents Josh King and Ashley Fletcher, having left Everton and Middlesbrough respectively, as well as Emmanuel Dennis from Club Brugge for a fee in the region of £4m.

It would be some statement for Armstrong to be their big-money buy of the summer as they adjust to life back in the Premier League under new boss Xisco Munoz, not least with captain Troy Deeney still plying his trade at Vicarage Road, as well as other attacking options including Joao Pedro and Ismaila Sarr who starred in their promotion campaign.

As for former Burnley striker Gray, he too is hoping to be in the mix next season, the 30-year-old having been part of Jamaica’s Gold Cup campaign which ended this week with a quarter-final defeat to USA.

He netted in a friendly against Serbia for the Reggae Boyz last month, having scored five times in 31 appearances for the Hornets in their promotion campaign.

Watford splashed out £18.5m to sign Gray from Burnley in 2017, with one year left on the five-year deal he signed. Speaking of his future, he said during his time away with Jamaica: “My future is down to Watford. If they want me to stay, I am going to fight for my place in the Premier League.

“I believe I am good enough. But I am not thinking about club football.”

Any prospect of a move to a Championship club would need significant compromise on his salary, believed to be in the region of £70,000 a week. Rovers’ highest wage paid to a loan signing last season was £10,000.

Rovers are still to make a signing in this window, but noises have been positive about one potential midfield deal.

One possible loan target for Rovers is Liverpool midfielder Leighton Clarkson. The East Lancashire-born teenager has been away with the Reds for their pre-season tour of Austria, with the club now set to allow him to move out on loan, with Rovers having kept a close eye on his progress.

Meanwhile, West Bromwich Albion are said to be considering a move for free agent Adam Reach who has been on Rovers’ radar this summer.

Versatile midfielder Reach remains a without a club after leaving Sheffield Wednesday in the summer.