Blackburn Rovers Euro 2016 duo will be given extra time off

Rovers will return to their Brockhall training base a week on Monday to get pre-season training under way.

But Northern Ireland midfielder Evans and Republic of Ireland centre-back Duffy will not be present even if their countries have been eliminated from the tournament.

Northern Ireland gave themselves a great chance of qualifying for the round of 16 after beating Ukraine 2-0 on Thursday.

Evans played the vast majority of the match and, although he came off in injury-time with a tight groin, he is expected to keep his place for the final Group C clash with reigning world champions Germany on Tuesday.

Duffy is hoping to make his first appearance at the Euros in Wednesday’s make or break encounter with Italy in Group E having been an unused subsitute, for the second match running, in yesterday’s 3-0 defeat to Belgium.

New Rovers boss Owen Coyle is keeping a close eye on how Evans and Duffy fare at the tournament.

The Scotland-born former Republic of Ireland striker said: “Everybody will report back by June 27 with the exception being the boys who are at the Euros.

“And when they finish there it’s important they get some downtime so that they can recover and so we’ve got them fresh for the start of the season.

“I wish Scotland were there as well, then all the home nations would have been there, along with Republic of Ireland, who I played for, and they were all going at it.

“But there’s still great interest there and it’s absolutely brilliant that Blackburn Rovers have got Shane and Corry involved.

“We wish them all the best and we look forward to seeing them when they come back.”

Coyle will be working with existing assistant manager Alan Irvine and first-team coach Rob Kelly at Rovers.

And, along with Under-21 lead coach Damien Johnson and assistant David Dunn, he knows them well.

Coyle said: “I know all the lads.

“Dunny I’ve known for a numbers of years and Damo is a great lad, who’s also Blackburn Rovers through and through, and they’re working very hard on the younger ones coming through.

“Rob lives along the road from me and Alan I’ve known from even before our coaching careers began. I go way back with them and we know each other on a personal level. There’s loads of ties there.

“There’s a good staff and good people at this club and the important thing is we’re all signing from the same hymn sheet as we try to drive this club forward. That’s the key to everything.”

It is understood that Coyle is in the process of firming up a new goalkeeper coach who will be in place before the players start training.

Laurence Batty, who had held the position, indicated his desire to leave the club after Paul Lambert stepped down as manager following the final game of last season.

Lambert brought Batty to Rovers having previously worked with him at Wycombe Wanderers and Norwich City.