IN-FORM Jonathan Greening was last night tipped to force his way into the England squad by his Middlesbrough boss Steve McClaren.

National team coach Sven-Goran Eriksson announces his latest 23-man pool tomorrow night for two vital European Championship qualifiers against Liechtenstein, a week today, and Turkey on April 2 at the Stadium of Light.

And after Eriksson witnessed Greening's impressive display at Elland Road seven days ago, McClaren believes his ever-present midfielder must have caught the Swede's eye. The England manager also saw the 23-year-old train at Boro's Rockliffe Park training HQ on Thursday.

But McClaren, Eriksson's former right-hand man, insists his player must continue to impress at club level if international caps are going to come his way.

"Sven was at Leeds watching Jon Greening play and he did well. Then, to be fair, he had a good training session when he was watching," said the Boro manager, who will include Greening in his starting line-up against Charlton today.

"You never know whether he will or he won't get called up but my main priority is getting him to play well for Middlesbrough.

"Stats are stats and he has not missed a minute's football this season, he's played every game and he played 40 games last season.

"The majority of those he has improved as time has gone along and he is proving a real diamond."

Greening was called up for a training get-together earlier in the season but he was left out of the squad to face Australia last month.

The former Manchester United man has been touted as a possible solution to the much-publicised left-midfield problem.

And McClaren is confident Greening can play anywhere across the pitch.

"He has the ability," said McClaren, who paid £2m for the player's services. "Jonathan can play in a number of positions. I have seen him play on the right-hand side, in the middle and he is now playing on the left of three."

Greening's displays have been a major factor in Boro's rise up the table recently, but McClaren believes the whole midfield deserves credit, including George Boateng.

Boateng's consistent performances have gone largely unnoticed in recent weeks because of the attacking flair of Juninho and Geremi.

But the tough-tackling Dutchman has been a vital part of Boro's resurgence, and McClaren said: "George has been absolutely vital to us and he showed that when we lost him after the Arsenal game and he was out for six weeks through injury. We missed him enormously. He gets on with his job."

Boro still have eyes on a European spot, despite going into the final eight games of the season sitting in 11th place.

But three points at home to Charlton today will close the gap on the eighth-placed Addicks and increase the Teessiders' chances of a place in the UEFA Cup.

McClaren, who enjoyed great European Cup nights while at Manchester United, has been following North-East rivals Newcastle's Champions League exertions.

And the Boro boss is determined to guide the Riverside outfit to similar glory evenings.

"It was great to see Newcastle bring Champions League football in this area," he said.

"I was fortunate to be involved with Manchester United in Europe and they were fantastic nights. It's great to see Newcastle get as far as they could. "It would be a dream to get Middlesbrough into that competition and that's what we are aiming for."

Midfielder Mark Hudson has joined Chesterfield after being released by Boro. The 22-year-old made just five appearances for Boro.

Read more about Middlesbrough here.