MIDDLESBROUGH are not prepared to give up on landing prolific Football League striker Jordan Rhodes to spearhead the final two months of the promotion run-in just yet.

Boro have moved to try to land £10m-rated Rhodes on loan until the end of the season but have been told to forget it by Blackburn Rovers unless there are guarantees over a future fee.

Rovers boss Gary Bowyer sees no interest in giving one of his biggest assets away temporarily for nothing and recouping a fee depending on whether Middlesbrough reach the Premier League.

The possibility of signing Rhodes, who had hit 66 goals in 131 appearances before last night’s match with Bolton, was raised after his name started to circle around clubs.

Middlesbrough face stiff competition for his services from Derby County and Norwich City: two rivals to the Teessiders for promotion who are desperate for attacking reinforcements because of injuries to key personnel.

But Blackburn, who have not completely given up on a play-off place themselves despite a sizeable gap to sixth, are only willing to do business if they know they are guaranteed cash at the end of the season.

Bowyer said: “I don’t understand why we’d want to even consider loaning one of our players to our rivals.

“We’ve had plenty of chats, of course we have. We’re looking forward to him scoring like he did last week at Sheffield Wednesday.

“It’s simple. We’ve got 11 league games left and a FA Cup quarter-final with a potential visit to Wembley. Why we would want to be letting any of our players go at this stage is beyond me.”

A lack of goals has prevented Aitor Karanka’s side from taking complete charge of the Championship’s promotion race.

Last Saturday’s defeat at Nottingham Forest saw Middlesbrough have 26 shots on goal, but just four on target, and there was a lack of clear cut opportunities in front of goal.

Such a positive addition at this stage of the campaign could prove perfect timing and that is why chairman Steve Gibson has given the go-ahead for discussions with counterparts at Ewood Park.

Blackburn have been battling to cut their budget to meet Financial Fairplay regulations and the opportunity to offload Rhodes, provided there are guarantees over a fee, is a realistic prospect.

But Middlesbrough must decide whether to gamble on going up, knowing that committing to a fee of between £8m-£10m for the former Huddersfield man would largely rest on securing promotion back to the top-flight.

Gibson hopes Blackburn will budge once it has become clear that they can forget about climbing in to the play-offs in the remaining ten matches.

Middlesbrough, who have lost three of their last five matches, would prefer for a deal where a permanent transfer would be triggered after promotion to the Premier League is certain.

Rhodes has scored 13 goals this season despite finding himself often being named on the bench because of the performances of Rudy Gestede and Josh King. His tally is still more than any Middlesbrough forward.

Middlesbrough’s chances of persuading Rhodes to move to the Riverside are likely to be strengthened by the fact Steve Agnew, Karanka’s No 2, is his uncle.

The Scotland international was the subject of a £12m bid from Hull City last summer and he could provide the alternative attacking option to power Middlesbrough away from the three other teams sitting on 66 points at the top end of the Championship.