Blackburn Rovers manager Tony Mowbray says he believes the club will soon be dealing with plenty of transfer interest in striker Ben Brereton, despite the 19-year-old's difficult first season at Ewood Park.

Brereton has started just three Championship games for Rovers since joining from Nottingham Forest for a fee reported to be £7million in August, and has yet to score for the Lancashire side.

The 19-year-old will make his first return to his former club at the weekend, as Rovers travel to face Forest at The City Ground, and despite his tough start to life in Lancashire, Mowbray is confident about the prospect of using Brereton on Saturday.

Speaking to Rovers official website about Brereton ahead of the game, Mowbray said: "I think he's a wonderfully talented boy. Maybe this is an occasion for him to show the people of Nottingham what he can do, although I feel as though he has already done that."

Brereton's contract at Ewood runs until the summer of 2022, and Mowbray went onto say that he feels the club could be attracting interest in the striker by that time, claiming: "Hopefully in time he will show the people of Blackburn what a talent he is and why the investment was put into him.

"At some stage that will come. If it's this weekend, then great for him. If it's not, he's very much in the long-term plans of this football club.

"As I've always said, somewhere down the line, everybody will be saying 'wow, what a player' and we'll be fighting off bids for him."

The verdict

With Tuesday night's impressive win over Derby finally taking Rovers up to the nerve-easing 50 point mark, the opportunities may now come with a bit more regularity for Brereton in the final five games of the season.

With his age and price tag, the striker's performances were always going to come under scrutiny, so there will be a huge sense of relief when he eventually gets off the mark for Rovers.

Particularly given that following Joe Rothwell's goal in that win over Derby, of the six summer signings to have featured for the club this season, Brereton is now the only one yet to find the back of the net.