Tony Mowbray is a fan of Ryan Manning, and Rovers have looked at him in each of the last two transfer windows, but the club are keeping the identity of their No.1 left back target under wraps.

Mowbray wouldn’t be drawn on who the player was that the club are awaiting a decision from, though Manning’s name came to the surface given Rovers’ historical links to the Galway man.

The 24-year-old is into the final year of his contract at QPR, and was left out of the squad for their opening Championship fixture, but was back in the fold for the Carabao Cup defeat at Plymouth Argyle in midweek where he opened the scoring.

Mowbray told the Lancashire Telegraph Rovers had made progress with their search for a new left-back, and were hoping for an answer in the next 24 hours over his next move, with other clubs interested.

It’s for that reason that Mowbray wasn’t willing to be drawn on who the player is, but he is a long-term admirer of Manning whose productivity from left back was among the best in the division last season.

That form had previously seen him linked with West Ham, and any interest this summer would likely test out how far Rovers' transfer budget will stretch.

They previously tried to bring Manning to Ewood Park last summer, as well in January, with both advances knocked back.

The player is now said to be considering his future with talks over a new deal at Loftus Road having gone quiet.

In the meantime, it seems unlikely he will feature for Rangers, with Mark Warburton saying last week: “I want to make sure that players are focused on the game and there’s nothing derogatory or negative about Ryan, who trains exceptionally well and is a great lad.

“I have a great relationship with him, I talk to him all the time, but as I say that’s just football. There’s no doubting the quality of Ryan Manning, of course.

“What happens will happen. I’m not going to talk about any individual player, there’s nothing derogatory about the player.”

Manning started life in central midfield, but returned to Rangers from a loan spell with Rotherham United in 2019 to become a fully-fledged left back, and is currently four games short of a century of appearances for the club.

During his spell with the Millers in the latter of 2018 he scored four times, all penalties, in 18 appearances.

Meanwhile, James Garner had been mentioned as a possible loan target for Rovers in this window, with Manchester United keen to get the highly-rated midfielder some game-time. 

Garner has shone for United’s Under-23s side and had been interesting a host of sides across the Championship. However, it appears that Watford have won the race to sign the 19-year-old on a deal through to the end of the season.

Rovers are in the market for a central midfielder this window, and that looked likely to be their main chance of using the loan system to bring in a new face.