MIDDLESBROUGH are set to release all of their out-of-contract and loan players this summer - but manager Tony Mowbray admits further cuts could still be required.

With new Financial Fair Play regulations having been introduced, Boro will attempt to reduce their annual wage bill from its current level, which is around £16m a year, to closer to £10m ahead of next season.

Some of that reduction will be achieved through the departure of Josh McEachran, Sammy Ameobi and Ishmael Miller, whose loan deals are due to expire at the end of the current campaign, and Stephen McManus, Nicky Bailey, Kieron Dyer and Julio Arca, who are due to become free agents in June.

However, the savings achieved from the release of those players will not be sufficient to plug the budgetary gap, and Mowbray accepts he may be forced to move on other players he would much rather keep at the Riverside.

"It all comes down to finance," said the Middlesbrough manager. "You've only got so much to spend. There will be some players leaving this summer, whether they're loan players or out of contract, and we will save a certain amount of money on their salaries."That will take us to ground zero if you like, the level where we're committed to paying so much over the year for the players that remain."But if that number is still greater than where you want to get to in terms of wages, you're in a bit of trouble. If you talk about recruitment and bringing players in, someone else might have to go to get to a position where you can start spending a bit of money."

Given the way in which Boro's season has nose-dived since the turn of the year, there is clearly a need to bring in some new faces to freshen things up at the club's Rockliffe Park training ground.

Mowbray's scouting team have been monitoring a number of targets at home and abroad in recent months, but their arrival is dependent on the level of interest in some of Boro's most saleable assets this summer.

The likes of Rhys Williams, Marvin Emnes and Scott McDonald have commanded interest in the past, but it remains to be seen whether the last few months have had a negative impact on their desirability and value.

"The overall wage bill will be less next season, so if everybody out of contract and the loan players go, and it's still not where the club wants it to be, the only way to change it further is to sell somebody," said Mowbray.

"You have to pay players' contracts if you've signed them. How are we going to recruit if that number is already just above where we want to be? You don't, because you can't spend money you haven't got. And if no one wants to buy any of our players, we'll be stuck with the players we've got, barring seven or eight less because they've left."

McManus has already accepted his time on Teesside is drawing to an end, and Mowbray admits the new financial reality of life at the Riverside means there was never going to be an option of extending the 30-year-old's deal.

"Stephen is a top professional, yet he was signed in a different era, even if it was just four years ago," said the Boro boss. "He understands where we're coming from.

"The finances dictate things. Sometimes, as we've seen over the last couple of years, you just can't keep some players you would like to hold on to. Compared to when they were given their deals, the money just isn't there any more."

However, Mowbray is refusing to rule out the possibility of a player being offered a new deal on reduced terms, which could be the case with Bailey if there is limited interest from elsewhere.

"Sometimes you lose players you wouldn't want to, but sometimes there's the scope to re-negotiate things," he said. "That's what happened with Justin (Hoyte) last year. His salary went from place A to place B, and I think a lot of footballers will find they have to have similar discussions."Unless you are going to the Premier League, there are clubs en masse in this division that seem to have more of an understanding of where the Championship is going in terms of finance."