Zebroski and Carayol Departures Confirmed

48 hours after the news broke that Chris Zebroski was in talks with Cheltenham Town, his move to the Rubies has been completed. The striker has penned a 2 year deal for an undisclosed fee. Mustapha Carayol's future has been something of a transfer saga with plenty of speculation over the summer as to where his future would lie. Yesterday evening the story finally came to an end and he completed a move to Championship side Middlesbrough for an undisclosed fee on a 3 year deal. Notably he tweeted following the completion of his move to say he wishes he could take back some of his earlier tweets this pre-season - easy to say now you've got your big money move - and he believes Rovers can get promotion this year. We certainly hope so.

Both moves provide Mark McGhee scope to further complete business in the transfer market, with a goalkeeper, a winger and a striker his top priorities. He's made no secret of his desire to sign trialist Fabian Broghammer and it's thought he will offer him a contract tonight. No names have been disclosed in regards to the goalkeeping or forward situations but it's understood a renewed attempt to land Oxford United striker James Constable will be launched. Our bids earlier this summer were made very public by the U's and it was believed they wanted around £200k for their prized asset. With money brought in to the club through clauses in the deals that took Rickie Lambert to Southampton and Chris Lines to Sheffield Wednesday, funds have clearly been made available to McGhee. Add to that the fees we receive for Carayol and Zebroski and there should be plenty of resources for Rovers to land their top attacking target.

There could be news on incomings before our weekend visit to Ashton Gate.

Wayne Brown scored for Rovers last night

Elsewhere and Rovers recorded back-to-back away victories in pre-season friendlies on Tuesday and Wednesday night. A 2-1 victory at Tamworth was followed up by a 2-1 win at Paulton Rovers to increase Rovers' unbeaten pre-season run to 3 matches. Eliot Richards and Shaquille Hunter scored at Tamworth whilst Wayne Brown and Matt Harrold scored last night against Paulton. David Clarkson played in both games and had a penalty saved but did set up Matt Harrold superbly with a pin-point cross. Garry Kenneth and Rogvi Baldvinsson made their debuts yesterday and performed solidly to impress the coaching staff and Gasheads at the game. They'll all be hoping to start the game against Bristol City on Saturday to show a large number of Rovers fans what they're all about against our fiercest rivals.