MIDDLESBROUGH goalkeeper Mark Schwarzer has refused to rule out the possibility of the new season being his last at the club.

Schwarzer's current Boro deal expires in May and, while contract talks have been ongoing all summer, the two parties are no nearer to an agreement.

Skipper Gareth Southgate put pen to paper on a new two-year contract last week, and fellow centre-half Ugo Ehiogu has hinted that he is close to agreeing a similar deal.

But Schwarzer has so far refused to commit himself to the Riverside, despite emerging as one of the club's most important players last season.

The Australian international will be free to talk to Boro's Premiership rivals in January if an agreement has not been reached by then and, with the start of the new season now just five days away, insists he could yet leave Teesside in nine months' time.

"Anything's possible in football," said Schwarzer, who has made 275 appearances for Boro since making a £1.5m move from Bradford City in February 1997. "I've been here for a long, long time now and I've thoroughly enjoyed my time here.

"We've had initial discussions and, at the moment, there are a few bits and pieces that we're talking about.

"But the start of the season is less than a week away and that's the most important thing.

"This season is a very, very important season for the club and for everyone concerned. So, as far as I'm concerned I'm happy with the way things are at the moment."

Schwarzer's value to Boro was underlined in February's Carling Cup final when he made two scintillating saves to atone for the error that led to Kevin Davies' goal.

Those stops helped to secure the club's first major trophy, but the season ended on something of a sour note as Steve McClaren's side slipped to 11th in the final Premiership table.

Schwarzer was delighted to have helped make history in Cardiff, but admits that improvement in the league must be the priority this season.

"We need to finish as high as possible," he said. "Although whether the Champions League place is attainable is another thing.

"You've got to set your standards high and, if we can look to build towards that, then that's a good thing.

"Anything's possible. You look at the way the league panned out last season and we probably could have finished in the top six. But we finished badly and we didn't get anywhere near it.

"We need to improve on last season because we were quite disappointed with how we finished off in the league.

"We felt that we could have finished a lot higher than we did and that's something that's very important to us."

Boro rounded off a successful pre-season with last week's 3-1 win against Real Mallorca but, as McClaren's side continue to prepare for Saturday's derby clash with Newcastle, it is the club's only friendly defeat that continues to live longest in the mind.

"We went to Hansa Rostock and got beaten 3-1," said Schwarzer. "But in some ways that was good because it put our feet back on the ground.

"We were very disappointed with how we did out in Germany because we didn't really do ourselves justice at all.

"Wednesday night's game was a good game to finish with, but the defeat in Germany was a good reality check because we'd had games against First Division sides that we pretty much strolled through."

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