Boro look to make two new signings

08 September 2009 11:10
AFTER finally confirming the departure of Afonso Alves to the Middle East, Gareth Southgate intends to bring in two new faces before Ipswich Town arrive in the North-East this weekend. A priority remains replacing Alves with another striker, but Southgate is also in the hunt for a defender after offloading Robert Huth to Stoke City ten days ago. With chairman Steve Gibson unlikely to release all of the reputed £7m raised from the sale of Alves to Al-Sadd for new acquisitions, Boro chief executive Keith Lamb is braced for a few days of highlevel negotiating. Southgate has an interest in Prestons Sean St Ledger and Sheffield United centreback Matthew Kilgallon, but there is a reluctance on their clubs part to strike loan deals. The transfer window has closed, but Football League clubs can bring in new players under the terms of a loan until mid-November even if that means such arrangements are with a view to permanent transfers. Having failed to bring in any late signings before the summer transfer window closed a week ago, Southgate is now pinning his hopes on Lamb reaching agreements with Boros Championship rivals. Derbys Rob Hulse remains top of his shopping list even though the striker rejected a £3.5m move to Teesside last week. He does have other options to consider, but the Middlesbrough boss is also working on trying to bolster his defensive ranks following the departure of Huth. Jonathan Grounds partnered David Wheater at the heart of the defence at Bristol City last time out and Southgate also has other options. But with Emanuel Pogatetz still a couple of weeks away from returning from surgery on both knees and Chris Riggott no nearer to finding the root cause of his ankle troubles, Boro have been assessing their options in the loan market. If progress isnt made in discussions for St Ledger or Kilgallon, Southgate will have to consider playing Grounds, Seb Hines or Rhys Williams alongside Wheater against Ipswich. Ordinarily there would also be the option of playing Matthew Bates there, and the Stockton-born defender-cummidfielder has been reliving the moment he suffered cruciate knee ligament injury for the fourth time again. The 22-year-old broke down in a pre-season friendly at Carlisle and had surgery a week ago by renowned specialist Dr Andy Williams, who has previously worked on Andrew Flintoff and Didier Drogba. It was knowing I was back to square one and I couldnt help but think why me again It was total shock, not just for me but my family too. It was very hard to take, said Bates. Ive had time to reflect on it since that initial shock and frustration. Before the op, I spoke to Grant Downie and a couple of specialists and there was no bad feedback. They told me that the odds are still stacked in my favour. In fact, those were the exact words of the surgeon. Before the op I went to America for a second expert opinion. All the feedback was positive. My specialist has told me about players who have had this operation and come back and played, so I feel quite upbeat about the whole situation now. Seat tickets for Boros home game with Ipswich and the following Saturday against West Brom are on general sale with discounts available for fans using Boro Pride cards. Seat tickets for the home game with Nigel Pearsons Leicester on Tuesday, September 29 are available to Boro Pride members before general sale begins on Friday. Prices for Boro Pride members start at £8 for under-18s, £14 for 18-21s/over-65s and £21 adults. Normal prices are £13 under-18s, £16 over-65s and £23 adults. 18- 21s pay adult general sale prices.

Source: Northern_Echo