Having invested so much into their recruitment department, focusing heavily on the European market, Rovers’ first dip into that pool of players was always going to be a big step.

The early indications are that goalkeeper Thomas Kaminski, brought in from Belgian side AA Gent, will turn out to be a very impressive capture, with the form of the 28-year-old seeing him involved in the Belgian national team set-up once again.

Antonis Stergiakis was also brought in from Slavia Sofia, the youngster signing a long-term deal, as Rovers beefed up their goalkeeping department.

The work behind the scenes, led by head of recruitment Stuart Harvey, will continue heading into the January window, and Tony Mowbray insists the next challenge will be back to back-up the signing of Kaminski with more finds from across Europe.

As for Kaminski himself, he went within minutes of a sixth clean sheet of the season against Barnsley where his two seconds half saves were key in the 2-1 victory.

His eye-catching distribution has been backed up with some impressive saves, and the Belgian has been a commanding presence at the back.

Mowbray has been delighted with his new No.1 who has settled into life quickly at Ewood Park.

He said: “I put that down to our recruitment department and being able to find Thomas Kaminski playing in Belgium.

“I put a lot of stock in our recruitment department and I say to the owners, to the chief executive, to you (the press), you’re only as good as your recruitment.

“We found ourselves in a situation with no goalkeepers, Christian Walton went back to his parent club, and David Raya we made the decision the year before, but to find a goalkeeper from where we found him, I had some conversations with him over Zoom and I could feel his personality.

“As he’s come over and we’ve got him on the grass, he’s been everything we hoped he would be.

“We’ve had really positive feedback from the Belgium national team from the times he’s trained with them and how impressed they’ve been with him.

“Hopefully he can keep his progression and keep getting better and improving.

“I know he’s really enjoying it and let’s hope we can find a lot more in the ilk of Thomas Kaminski as we move forward with our recruitment department.”