Head of recruitment Victor Orta looks set to leave Middlesbrough as the club prepare to rebuild for life in the Championship.
It is understood the Spaniard, who arrived in December 2015 to lead the European scouting network which then head coach Aitor Karanka hoped would help him to build for a bright new future, is in talks over a severance deal.
His departure would all but signal the end of the Karanka regime on Teesside with his interim replacement Steve Agnew having drafted in coaches Joe Jordan, Paul Jenkins and Jonathan Woodgate in an ultimately unsuccessful bid to stave off relegation.