Middlesbrough have completed the signing of experienced striker David Nugent from Leicester City for an undisclosed fee.

The Championship club announced that the one-time England international had finalised the details of a three-year deal at the club, and would be available for selection for Saturday's home clash with Bolton Wanderers.

Though the exact transfer fee has not been revealed by either club, local paper The Gazette has speculated that the fee is around £2million up front, rising to £4million after promotion and performance incentives.

Karanka appreciates value for money

This fee is considerably less than that which had been suggested for fellow attacking target Jordan Rhodes, though manager Aitor Karanka has recently said that rumours of a bid as high as £14million for the Blackburn Rovers man were not true.

And Karanka has spoken of his pleasure at having brought in one of his primary attacking targets without having to spend "a crazy amount of money" on someone he feels is "a very good player".

The Spaniard was also keen to stress that the 30-year-old was only brought in because he "believes in our project and this club", with Boro looking to bolster their attacking line-up in order to put together a push for automatic promotion.

Goalscoring troubles at the Riverside

On-loan Chelsea striker Patrick Bamford was the club's top scorer last season and he has now moved on to Crystal Palace, but even with his 17-goal haul Boro were still the lowest scorers in the top eight of the Championship last season despite making the play-off final at Wembley.

With Nugent joining Kike and recent signing Cristhian Stuani at the club, Karanka now has three out-and-out forwards to play in his preferred 4-2-3-1 system but he is aware that he needs a greater range of tactical flexibility this season if they are to improve on the last - with money still in the bank, this could mean further transfer activity at the Riverside Stadium before the window closes.

For the time being, however, the focus will be on Nugent, who has been photographed by fans training with his new teammates.

Nugent pleased to have made the move

The forward said he was "delighted" to have joined what he sees as "a club that's moving forward", and was relieved to have got the deal over the line having been "itching to get here".

Boro fans have been crying out for a proven Championship goalscorer for some time and they finally seem to have their man with Nugent scoring 22 times in Leicester's promotion season two years ago.

And, despite only playing a bit-part role at the King Power Stadium following the big-money signings of Leonardo Ulloa and Andrej Kramarić, he managed to find the net five times in the Premier League last season.

Selection headaches for Karanka

His prompt arrival leaves Karanka with a selection dilemma ahead of Saturday's game with Bolton. Kike started the goalless first league game of the campaign but Stuani found the net twice in an impressive League Cup appearance on Wednesday despite not being fully up to match fitness.

Meanwhile, the club's search for a new goalkeeper continues. With Karanka already confirming his interest in AC Milan stopper Michael Agazzi earlier in the week, some media outlets have also linked him with a move for Hellas Verona's Rafael, with the Spaniard apparently looking to Serie A for a potential new number one.

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About the author
Sam France
Former Deputy Editor-in-Chief and Features Editor at VAVEL UK, part of the VAVEL team 2014-2018.