Tony Mowbray says the departure of Lewis Holtby was based on both family and finance as Rovers prepare to say goodbye to the midfielder.

Holtby was the first player whose future was revealed by the manager with the out-of-contract 30-year-old having been left out of two of the last three matchday squads.

His future will now lie away from Ewood Park, having played 56 times since signing as a free agent in September 2019, and his is expected to be one of a number of senior departures this summer.

That will help ease pressure on Rovers’ budget heading into next season, but Mowbray admitted there was an element of mutual consent when it came to Holtby’s situation.

“Lewis is a fantastically dedicated professional footballer who is first in and last out virtually every day,” Mowbray told the Lancashire Telegraph.

“He works on his body, on his technique and he’s a joy to work with.

“He’s had two lateral knee ligament injuries in a year, his wife gave birth, he had to fly over to Germany a few times because of family issues and then quarantine on his return.

“I think it’s been a very stop-start season for Lewis. He now finds his wife and child in Germany and he’s had no family around him for a while.

“I think they as a family have made a decision what’s best for them and for us I think financially it probably helps us moving forward to redistribute some salary that we can help the team in other areas.”

Decisions have already been made on the out-of-contract players which will be announced in the retained list this month.

Asked if that had been done sooner than previously, Mowbray said: “Footballers, agents, families want to know what we are doing.

“My first thought is generally the human side of football and treating the footballers as well as we can.

“If decisions have been made we will communicate those to the players.”