Doncaster Rovers 'close on new signings' in aftermath of John Marquis departure

The striker has moved to Rovers’ League One rivals for a fee understood to be close to £2m and Moore has been given the green light to reinvest some of the money in adding to his squad.

And the Rovers boss is hopeful of landing new additions in time for Saturday’s season opener against Gillingham, with two deals in particular understood to be close.

He said: “I’ve been working closely with Gavin Baldwin [chief executive] on identifying players and we’re very close on a number of deals for a number of positions which we’re hopeful of concluding quickly.

“I’m pleased with the squad we have here, but we need a few more bodies to add to it and we’ll have it sorted soon.”

With Marquis having his heart set on a move south to be close to the families of him and his wife, Moore believes the move is right for all parties with Rovers receiving a sizeable fee.

He added: “We were clear with John that we didn’t want to sell him and wanted him to sign a new deal, but he also made clear to us that he would not do that as he wanted to move further south to be closer to his family.

“Although he has been fantastic for Rovers over the past three years, he wanted to move on and this is the right move for all parties.

“We will get a substantial fee from Portsmouth for someone who was in the last 12 months of his contract and this money will allow me to strengthen the squad.”