Mowbray targeting promotion and new faces

Boro's alarming drop down the Championship table after New Year's Day ended up with them slipping out of the top two and closer to the relegation zone on the final day.

Mowbray and his backroom team were left scratching beneath the surface in the hope of coming up with reasons for the decline.

And he has spent the early-part of the close-season trying to come up with ways of making his squad stronger next season.

Former Sunderland midfielder Dean Whitehead, released by Stoke City, is one of the players under serious consideration, while Hungarian Jozsef Varga has been doing his best to get a move to England.

Defender Frederic Veseli, released by Manchester United, is another being considered on a long list of players being examined by Mowbray and his scouting team.

After being handed an opening day fixture with Leicester City at the Riverside Stadium on August 3, Mowbray has made no secret of his desire to make Middlesbrough promotion hopefuls.

"Starting the season against Leicester will be a good test for us," said Mowbray. “They are an ambitious club who reached the play-offs last season and I'd expect them to be competing at the top end of the table this year.

"It's an interesting fixture because that's where we want to be. They are all hard games and we are working hard to recruit footballers that will help us to be competitive whoever we are playing.”

Varga, 25, still has a year remaining on his contract at Debrecen so a deal could be complicated if a fee is demanded. There is also interest in him from abroad, having spent last season in the Bundesliga with Greuther Furth.

He said: “I think my future may be decided within a week. The Championship is tough but it's also very popular and seen by many fans. There are a great number of teams so they play a lot of games.

"I think playing there would be a forward step in my career, I would consider this a great possibility.”