Middlesbrough look set to confirm the signing of Spaniard Alvaro Negredo on a loan deal from Valencia.
Reports have revealed that Negredo is set to sign for the North East outfit providing the medical goes well, which the club expect it to.
Negredo has previous Premier League experience having spent a year with Manchester City, helping them to their second title.
The Northern Echo suggested, on 11 July, that any loan deal for Negredo would include a 'non-binding purchase clause of around €10 million' which would give Boro boss Aitor Karanka a chance to decide whether to sign the Valencia forward permanently.
The most dificult transfer for 'Boro so far
The deal to bring Negredo to the Riverside has not been an easy one for Middlesbrough chairman Steve Gibson to conclude. Gibson even sent a delegation of high ranking Boro chiefs to Valencia to broker the deal in person.
A major stumbling block in this deal was Alvaro Negredo's wages and other bonuses. Middlesbrough were not prepared to pay the €7 million pounds year that Valencia pay which included Negredo's €130,000 per week wages.
The Gazette understands that Boro will not pay 'anywhere near that figure' should this deal be finalised and Negredo will fly to the North East for a medical at Rockliffe.
A big day of transfer news
It has also been revealed today that Antonio Barragan is due for a Middlesbrough medical today as a €3million deal is looking to be finalised and announced by Boro.
Barragan, who's deal was being negotiated by Boro chief executive Neil Bausor, looks set to sign on the dotted line for a three-year-deal.
Also, a deal for Borrusia Dortmund centre back Neven Subotic is all but finalised as the Gazette reveal the two parties have "shaken hands" and agreed a three year deal on a transfer which could rise as high as €10 million.
Subotic's deal is subject to a work permit, just as the deal for Gaston Ramirez is.
While Middlesbrough are having to appeal for Ramirez's work permit, Boro see no such trouble for the transfer of Subotic as he is coming from a 'category one league' in the BundesLiga and will be one of Boro's highest earners when he joins the club.
Subotic will meet a familiar face when Middlesbrough play Liverpool on 14 December, as it was current Reds boss Jürgen Klopp who signed Subotic for Borussia Dortmund from Mainz 05 when Klopp also moved to Dortmund from the Rhineland-Palatinate based club.