MARK Hughes insists he will be focusing on quality rather than quantity in his summer spending.

And, although the Rovers boss admitted it was becoming more difficult to compete with the Premier League's big spenders, he was confident the Ewood Park outfit had plenty to offer potential star players.

Today's opponents, Tottenham, have spent an incredible £62 million on players since last May, while Sunderland boss Roy Keane was quoted this week saying the Black Cats need another £50 million spent on their squad before they can challenge the top clubs.

And Hughes, who has guided Rovers into Europe in the past two seasons on a shoestring budget, admitted he cast an envious eye over the financial clout of some of their opponents.

He said: "You look at the teams in and around us and they've all spent a significantly more money than we could ever hope to spend.

"We're doing okay given how much we have to invest year on year.

"What we have here is continuity. We have a continuity of staff, a lot of the players we've retained here are on long-term contracts and are happy.

"That helps. If you're chopping and changing managers then they will have their own ideas about what players they need to bring in, and there will be a bigger turnover of players.

"We work with what we've got and we make the players we've got better."

He added: "It's going to be more difficult because more teams are really trying to establish themselves in the top 10. Teams who haven't previously had the option of qualifying for Europe have ambitious owners, who have money that demands success. As a consequence it gets more difficult for us.

"You look at the set-up we have and facilities-wise we're fine. But investment in the team, to get to that next level, is difficult.

"We just have to work extremely hard with the players we do have and the investments that we do make have to be ones that have an impact for us. If they don't then it becomes very difficult for us."

Hughes has already added Swiss star Johann Vogel to his ranks and he was expecting further arrivals during the summer months.

But he said the squad size would remain roughly the same size, with the focus being on improving what is already available in the first eleven.

He added: "It'll probably be the same numbers.

"I haven't used as many players this year as I normally do, which has left a lot of the players to carry the burden of the season.

"But if I can bring good quality in and I'm able to invest in the first eleven, then obviously players that are in certain positions will drop down and then that will make us even stronger.

"We are comfortable with the numbers we've got, it's just making sure the quality is right throughout the squad."