Boro must sell to buy

MIDDLESBROUGH boss Steve McClaren, pictured, has admitted he will have to sell before he can buy in the January transfer window.

McClaren has identified a number of targets as he attempts to strengthen in defence and midfield, with Sporting Lisbon’s Roudolphe Douala and Ajax full-back Hatem Trabelsi understood to be on his list.

However, he has been told by chairman Steve Gibson, who funded his summer swoops for £7.5million striker Aiyegbeni Yakubu, Emanuel Pogatetz, Fabio Rochemback and the now suspended Abel Xavier, that he must reduce his squad before he can add to it in a bid to drag the Teessiders out of a slump in form.