Boro keep tabs on Digard

Middlesbrough manager Gareth Southgate has confirmed his interest in Paris St Germain midfielder Didier Digard.

Southgate has returned from his summer break to start the process of recruiting his latest targets in earnest, and is hopeful of persuading the 21-year-old his future lies on Teesside.

Boro have been running the rule over a series of midfielders as they attempt to plug the gap left by the departures of Fabio Rochemback and Gaizka Mendieta with George Boateng’s future yet to be resolved.

Southgate said: “Didier is somebody we have been watching and he is somebody we have made an enquiry about.

“He is a player with definite qualities and he is someone we are interested in, but at this stage of the summer, it is difficult to go any further.

“But the one major difference between Didier and a lot of other players is that the signs seem to suggest that his club are willing to sell him.

“That obviously puts him in a slightly different position to some of the other players we might have been looking at.”

Southgate, who invested heavily in strikers last season, will concentrate on his midfield resources this time around as rumours persist that Gary O’Neil is by no means certain to remain at the Riverside Stadium.

Boro have been linked with a series of targets, including Newcastle’s James Milner, Chelsea’s Steve Sidwell, Reading’s James Harper and Heerenveen’s Michael Bradley.

However, in some cases, they have received little encouragement and in others, the prospect of being drawn into a bidding war has cooled their ardour.

It is understood that Portsmouth’s Sean Davis is not among Southgate’s targets.