Middlesbrough Football Club News

• Nickname:Boro
• Founded:1876
• Manager:Tony Mowbray

• Ground:Riverside Stadium
• Capacity:35,049

Downing confirms Boro stay

26 Feb 2008 - 13:53:02

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Middlesbrough's England winger Stewart Downing has formally put pen to paper on a new five-year contract with the Teessiders.

The 23-year-old pledged his future to Boro a couple of weeks ago, having been linked with both Tottenham Hotspur and Everton in the January transfer window.

Downing has scored 16 goals in 178 appearances for Boro in all competitions to date, as well as winning 16 caps for England, with his previous deal still having two years to run.

However, he is now tied to the Riverside club until the summer of 2012.

Downing had told the club's official website on agreeing fresh terms: "This is where I want to be.

"It's my hometown club, but I've told them that I didn't want us to stand still. Signing Afonso Alves shows how ambitious we are, the fact that the chairman was willing to splash out like that.

"The chairman has proved again just how much he wants this club to go forward. To be fair, the chairman and the manager have been spot on about it.

"They've never pressurised me, they've just made it clear that they wanted me to stay. My thoughts were that I wanted to stay as long as we're ambitious.

"There's been talk about other clubs but I never wanted out. This is what I've wanted all along."