Tony Mowbray has confirmed interest in Southampton striker Michael Obafemi.

Rovers are set to lose Adam Armstrong to the Premier League side, with a fee agreed between the two sides and the 24-year-old set for a medical.

Mowbray says any move for Republic of Ireland international Obafemi would be a permanent move, but is separate to the Armstrong negotiations, and a deal that Rovers will explore with the manager having watched him closely.

“It’s something that’s been mooted, those sort of things become personal to the point the boy wants to make that move, his advisors have to see it as an opportunity,” Mowbray said.

“If it’s one he sees as a good chance for him to play more regular football at a level he sees himself doing similar things to Adam and build his reputation.

“It’s something we’re exploring but I won’t sit here and say that anything is happening, we will see in the next couple of days if anything materialises.”

Mowbray has confirmed that a move which will see Armstrong move to St Mary’s would be separate to any discussions involving Obafemi.

He added: “I have watched him for the last three months.

“I was aware of him making his debut, he made quite a bit of noise a couple of years ago.

“I have studied him a lot recently and I see similarities with Adam, he’s mobile, fast, can score, he’s a young boy but we use attributes to help the team play in a certain way.

“He has the attributes that will help our team but it’s not something we should be saying is a done deal as I’ve not personally spoken to the player so let’s see what the next few days bring.”

Rovers are looking to secure a move for Brighton forward Reda Khadra, and Mowbray had previously outlined a loans-only policy for incomings this summer.

However, with the Armstrong deal soon to go through, he says that could now change following discussions with the owners.

“Until this deal goes through, the men in suits will do the numbers and then I’ll found out what the scope is,” Mowbray added.

“That’s been the difficulty, this time yesterday it was free transfers and loans. Whether that changes, and to what extent, we’ll have to see.

“Ultimately the owners are the ones who finance this football club and we have to see how they feel.

“I’ve talked before about when I was at Ipswich Town and Kieron Dyer was the best player in 1998/99 and we got to the play-offs and eventually we sold him and the very next year having bought three or four years the team got promoted without him.

“Sometimes you can sell your ‘best player’, strengthen and become a stronger unit and that’s got to be the pattern this club uses to move forward, because it’s very difficult competing with teams who came down with £60m parachute payments.”