Middlesbrough midfielder Adam Clayton has committed his future to the Teesside club signing a new four-year deal to keep him at the Riverside Stadium until 2021.

Good to get it over the line

Clayton has been a major player in Aitor Karanka's side since £1.8million move from Championship side Huddersfield Town back in 2014, making 123 appearances since the move from Kirklees Stadium.

The 28-year-old has become a firm fan favourite winning two Player of the Year awards in Boro's promotion season, and has proven crucial in the club's relegation battle this season with 20 starts so far.

The deal is set to keep him on Teesside until 2021, and he shared his delight at the new deal.

“I’ve put pen to paper finally," Clayton told mfc.co.uk. "It’s been going on in the background for a few weeks."

The midfielder told the club's website that to "guarantee myself coming here for the next couple of years is really good.”

Need to stick together

Boro find themselves in a sticky situation down the bottom of the Premier League table, and Saturday's 1-0 defeat to fellow relegation contenders Crystal Palace didn't help their cause.

They find themselves in 17th level on points of Palace in the relegation zone, they crucial clash with Stoke City on Saturday and Stewart Downing stated that the side need to stick together.

"We have to stick together," Downing told Sky Sports. "It's easy to feel sorry for yourselves when you lose games and you're down there."

"But it's about where we are at the end of the season," the veteran winger stated. "So we just have to forget this result and get on with getting points as soon as we can."

"We've got a big game for us next week," the 32-year-old stressed to the website. "A chance to put that right."

"We have to do what Palace have done - bounce back," Downing concluded. "We'll go to Stoke to get a result, and we have home games to come as well."

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About the author
Danial  Kennedy
Award-winning sports journalism graduate. Currently studying a PR Masters at the University of Sunderland. Writing for VAVEL since August 2014. Twitter - @ddkjournalism.