Source: Eurosport
Southgate demands hunger from new recruits
Middlesbrough boss Gareth Southgate is looking for hungry players as he attempts to guide the club back to the Barclays Premier League at the first attempt.
The former England defender is ready to launch his summer recruitment drive knowing he is likely to lose Turkey international Tuncay Sanli and with Stewart Downing almost certain to follow him out of the club once he has recovered from foot surgery.
Boro have already been linked with hugely experienced Manchester United duo Gary Neville and Paul Scholes, although their rebuilding programme is yet to get off the ground in earnest.
However, Southgate knows exactly what he is looking for as he tries to put together a team which can cope with the very different challenge of life in the Coca-Cola Championship.
He told the Evening Gazette: "We are focused on what we are looking for. The key element is we bring in the right kind of character. Of course we want to bring in good players but they have to have a hunger for the challenge of helping to mount a promotion bid.
"If they have experience of the league we are going into then this will obviously help. But that doesn't mean we are ruling out signing Premier League players."
