Tony Mowbray says Rovers would like to extend the contracts of several first-team players – but finances may dictate they have to resort to taking up the one-year options in their  current deals.

Rovers have 11 senior players whose deals will expire in the summer, but several contain options that can be triggered to extend their stays by a further 12 months.

In the cases of Ryan Nyambe and Joe Rothwell the club have looked to agree longer extensions, but Mowbray says the financial climate has made deals difficult.

John Buckley and Tyrhys Dolan both penned new contracts this year, with Bradley Dack the other senior player to have signed on for a longer-term deal this year, but the future is less than certain for a number of Rovers regulars.

And Mowbray told the Lancashire Telegraph: “There’s no real urgency, there’s not 11 players out of contract, we can still pick up options. It’s still not ideal.

“If these players are ones you want to help take your club forward and you can see helping you, they’re still moving into the last year of their deal, which isn’t ideal.

“It’s very difficult when you’re trying to negotiate deals and if the finances aren’t there to meet the expectations then it becomes more difficult and trying to get arrangements and deals in football is never easy, particularly after this year with the pandemic and the revenue streams not being there for most clubs.

“There’s no golden rule for players’ contracts, we’ll decide what we do with them.

“The players will have an input, the players’ agents will definitely have an input, and each one is individual.

“It’s not an easy conundrum but we’ll see where we get to with it.”

Mowbray revealed earlier this month that Rovers would be taking up the option in Harry Chapman’s contract, the 23-year-old winger having impressed out on loan at Shrewsbury Town, scoring the seventh goal of an increasingly productive spell in midweek.

Joe Rankin-Costello is another player whose deal Rovers are looking to extend, the 21-year-old establishing himself as a regular in the side this season, before injury struck.

Scott Wharton, another on the treatment table, is in discussions with the club over an extended deal, with his current contract set to expire in 2022.

Other players out of contract this summer are Elliott Bennett, Charlie Mulgrew, Amari’i Bell, Bradley Johnson, Lewis Holtby and Stewart Downing, while top scorer Adam Armstrong faces a decision over his long-term future as the 24-year-old heads into the final year of his Ewood Park deal.

The five loan players also see their time at the club end following the final game of the season against Birmingham on May 8.