THE cost of missing out on promotion looks set to have cost Middlesbrough one of their main summer transfer targets already.

Reading, whose return to the Premier League has been secured, are now the front-runners to land Barnsley’s promising midfielder Jacob Butterfield.

Middlesbrough – along with Newcastle United – have been keeping an eye on the 21-year-old since last season and his contract at Oakwell will expire at the end of the season.

But Reading boss Brian McDermott is keen to make Butterfield one of his first signings of the summer and Middlesbrough are braced to be unable to land their man.

The England Under-21 international, who has been recovering from a serious knee injury he sustained on New Year’s Eve, is keen to test himself at the highest level possible.

But he was thought to have been interested in a move to Teesside before their failure to seal a return to the topflight, which was cemented when they missed out on the play-offs following Saturday’s defeat at Watford.

Now McDermott – whose side won the Championship title – is keen to move in quickly in an attempt to get a deal done before other Premier League clubs like Newcastle make him an offer.

Mowbray faces a couple of months frustration at Middlesbrough.

A failure to clinch promotion means a further period of cost-cutting at the Riverside Stadium.

He has already informed a few players that they will not be offered new terms, with Luke Dobbie, Jonathan Franks and Jonathan Grounds the most likely contenders to miss out.

Tony McMahon and Justin Hoyte will not be offered new deals on the terms they are on now, meaning substantial pay-cuts will be required even to stand a chance of staying.

Skipper Matthew Bates, recovering from a fifth serious knee operation, is likely to be offered pay-as-you-play terms once he has shown he can make a comeback from his latest set-back.

It will only be once Mowbray – whose long-standing interest in Carlisle striker Francois Zoko was reported again yesterday – has reduced the wage bill that he can consider bringing in his own men.

His last permanent signing, Lukas Jutkiewicz, expects Mowbray to freshen things up, even if he is unsure of what direction the Middlesbrough boss will turn.

Jutkiewicz said: “The manager must now have a look and decide how we become a top two side from where we are. He will obviously have his own ideas of what he wants us to achieve going forward. It’s important to enjoy our break in the summer and get raring to go for next season.”

When Jutkiewicz arrived in a £1.5m deal from Coventry in January he had high hopes of spearheading a return to the Premier League in his first few months on Teesside.

Having failed to do that, though, the former Southampton and Everton forward believes there will be added determination from within the group to make sure it happens next time around.

“It’s going to be strange this summer, keeping an eye on what is happening knowing there are many players out of contract,” said Jutkiewicz. “With the finances everywhere being tightened up it will be interesting to see what happens.

“Over the course of the season we were not good enough to get in the playoffs.

“We just have to pick ourselves up and go again next year.”