Contracts of key players running down is an issue Tony Mowbray says Rovers will ‘have to deal with’.

Adam Armstrong heads the list of players whose contracts are set to expire in 2022, something Mowbray puts down to the coronavirus pandemic and an ability to offer improved deals.

His contractual situation, as well as his 29-goal season last time out, has seen a host of interest in the 24-year-old, with Rovers holding out for at least £20m amid the prospect of him being a free agent next summer.

That too would be the case of captain Darragh Lenihan, right back Ryan Nyambe and midfielder Joe Rothwell, the latter two having seen the options in their deals taken up in May.

Since Bradley Dack agreed a contract extension in December, John Buckley, Scott Wharton, Tyrhys Dolan and Joe Rankin-Costello are the only players to have agreed long-term deals, leaving Rovers facing the prospect of losing several players next summer on free transfers.

Talks have been opened with several players, including a sizeable contract offer for Armstrong, but they remain unsigned, with Mowbray admitting the situation is unlikely to change until after the transfer window.

He said: “In the future moving forward, Lenihan, Nyambe and Rothwell are in similar situations and we’ll have to deal with that and see how we go.

“For me, talking to the club, let’s get this window finished and see if we can address some of the situations, see where we are financially, and if we can’t offer new improved contracts then they are going to run.

“At this moment my focus is on trying to beat Swansea this weekend.”

Rovers posted losses of £21m in the year to June 2020, with the playing squad, management team and senior management all deferring part of their wages.

Mowbray says the financial climate has made negotiations difficult, despite the club having eased the wage bill by losing 11 players from last season’s squad, including several of their higher earners.

Armstrong took a pay cut from his deal at Newcastle United to join in 2018 for £1.75m, with the Magpies due 40 per cent of any profit on a potential transfer.

That is also a factor in the Armstrong negotiations, but as interest ramps up ahead of the August 31 deadline., it is expected that the striker won’t be at Ewood Park when the window, and Mowbray says he has not issues in selling his star striker given his contribution to the club.

“He’s in the final year of his deal and I put that down to the pandemic, you can’t be giving new, improved contracts with higher wages when you’re asking everyone else to take deductions and give up some of their money,” he said.

“It was a very difficult period. I have always been conscious of player contracts and them running down. For our football club it’s not been right to offer new, big contracts to players while others have been asked to take deductions.

“We have to accept that Adam is in the last year of his deal, he’s been good for the club and I feel we’ve been good for him as well. He’s improved substantially as a footballer and here we are.

“You polish up assets, sell them and reinvest some of that back into the team, whether that happens or doesn’t because of the financial situation then we have to abide by that.

“Whatever happens with the sale of Armstrong we will just get on with it. I have no problem selling players.”