Middlesbrough Manager Tony Mowbray is confident that some of the club’s emerging youth players can fill the void left by the loss of several first-team players.
Andrew Taylor and Kris Boyd have already departed from the Riverside this summer while the futures of Julio Arca and Didier Digard are far from certain.
Arca is expected to turn down the offer of a new deal while Digard has been linked with a move to Ligue One side Nice.
And with midfielder Kevin Thomson also ruled out of the first three months of the coming campaign, Mowbray is hopeful that players like second Year Apprentice Adam Reach can step up to the plate.
“There have been some holes created and we have to try to fill these holes,” Mowbray told the club’s website.
“It’s an opportunity for some of the young lads.”
He added: “Adam Reach burst onto the scene in the last game of last season and he’s someone who naturally plays in the position Andrew Taylor was playing in.”
“He will get opportunities during pre-season to play and if he can produce what he produced against Doncaster, then there’s a fair chance he won’t be too far away himself.”
