'No deal' says Balde as Boro draw blank

Steve McClaren's hopes of landing Celtic centre-back Bobo Balde ended when the 29-year-old pledged his immediate future to the Hoops yesterday morning.

Despite agreeing a fee with Chelsea for former Boro loan star Geremi, the Cameroon international turned down the offer of a three-and-a-half year deal.

McClaren was still striving to land other targets on short-term deals, but the midnight deadline appeared to have beaten his best efforts at strengthening his injury-ravaged squad ahead of tonight's game at Portsmouth.

McClaren said: "We don't have a big squad and have injuries which are weeks away. We are sixth and it would be a shame to fall back and waste that.

"We would like a couple of bodies in. We need to get through this patch and carry on where we are.

"We had an agreement with Chelsea and offered Geremi a three-and-a-half year contract, which the player turned down.

"There are various reasons he said no. We did chase him but unfortunately it didn't come off.

"We are negotiating with Celtic and we have spoken to Balde. We were looking for a pre-contract for the summer.

"But it has sped forward because of the injuries we have got. We had very good talks."

Those talks, however, came to nought after Balde confirmed he will stay at the Bhoys until the end of the season, then reassess his options with the likelihood he will remain a Celtic player.

The French-born Guinea international completed a medical at the Riverside last week and McClaren had hoped to tie up a deal for the player to join immediately, with Boro paying a fee of around £500,000.

But Balde's agent Barry Silkman said: "As far as I understand, he is not going anywhere.

"I really don't know what he's decided, because I am waiting for my colleague to get back to me. He sent me a text message saying that 'Balde stays at Celtic'."

McClaren hoped to make it fourth time lucky in his attempts to seal a £3m deal but the Teessiders head to Fratton Park apparently with no new additions to their squad.

Having picked up just two points from the last 12 in the Premier League, McClaren wants his men to stand up and be counted in their bid to halt their poor run of form.

"Portsmouth is a game to show our mettle, resilience, attitude," said McClaren. "We need to get back on track.

"Every team has a bad spell or a bad month and we are going through it now.

"We lost to Manchester United twice and Chelsea. We could have performed better but have not. We still have a good finish left in us.

"How well we do depends on how often we can get our star players out.

"We are suffering in that respect. People have criticised our defence but we have hardly had the same back four all season.

"We don't have a big squad and some of our injured players are weeks away from fitness.

"We have had three defeats in January against top teams. We have had a cup win and the only disappointment was the Norwich game.

"Other than that we would be fifth on 39 points.

"Everyone knows that this is a critical period for us. As I have said when people were talking about the top four I said the season starts in March/April, the last ten games, and there is a way to go.

"We are in contention. We need to be in contention with 8-10 games to go."

One player McClaren rates highly is Nigerian international Yakubu, with the Pompey striker the second highest scorer in the Premiership during 2004.

McClaren said: "He has burst onto the scene. Thierry Henry was top scorer in 2004 - if you look at the year.

"Henry was top scorer, Pires was third and Yakubu split them with 20 goals.

"I have seen him a lot. He has the knack of being in the right place at the right time."

James Morrison is a doubt tonight after having four stitches in a shin injury after Saturday's game at Manchester United.

Likely team: Schwarzer, McMahon, Reiziger, Southgate, Queudrue, Parlour, Doriva, Zenden, Downing, Job, Hasselbaink.

* Two former Boro players were on the move yesterday. Robbie Stockdale joined Hull City from Rotherham and Christian Karembeu moved from Swiss outfit Servette to French side Bastia.

* Middlesbrough and Everton have both admitted failing to ensure their players conducted themselves in an orderly fashion.

The charges related to a mass confrontation during the match between the two clubs at the Riverside on Sunday, January 16.

It followed a challenge by Duncan Ferguson on Boro 'keeper Mark Schwarzer, which sparked a mass pushing and shoving match, which spilled over into the net and involved most outfield players from both sides.

Both clubs have requested personal hearings.

Read more about Middlesbrough here.