MIDDLESBROUGH have been given the green light to chase their High Court damages claim against Premiership rivals Liverpool over the sale of Christian Ziege.

The Anfield club paid £5.5m for the German international, who Boro valued at £7.5m, in August 2000 and the Teessiders have been battling ever since for a fee they believe they deserve.

In May, Boro's £7m damages claim over Ziege's controversial move was thrown out by a High Court judge, but yesterday the Court of Appeal gave the Riverside outfit the go-ahead for a full trial.

Lord Justice Brown said: "If a club is wrongfully deprived of a valuable player the courts ought not to just throw up their hands and say the loss is incalculable. They must value it to the best of their ability."

Ziege, now at Tottenham, and Liverpool were fined £10,000 and £20,000, respectively, in May after the Reds became the first club to be charged with making an illegal approach for the player, as revealed in Northern Echo Sport.

Those penalties were regarded by Boro as inadequate punishment and a determined chairman Steve Gibson decided to seek substantial damages for the loss of the wing-back, who quit the club just a year after joining from AC Milan in a £4.

Both clubs have been engaged in a bitter war of words since with Gibson accusing Liverpool of "lies and deceit".

Boro say Liverpool were made aware, somehow, of the confidential clause in his contract, allowing him to leave for £5.5m, and had the Merseyside outfit not been aware of that they would have offered Ziege's market value.

Both Chelsea and Scottish giants Rangers had offered the asking price, but the German had already decided he wanted to make the switch to Liverpool.

And Gibson has been continually trying to receive what he believes his club deserves and in March he pointed an accusing finger at manager Gerard Houllier and chief executive Rick Parry over their part in the player's move.

He said at the time: "Parry and Liverpool have consistently and knowingly broken the rules and offered misleading statements.

"Houllier has been quoted as saying that Middlesbrough's claims were 'laughable'. He said this knowing them to be justified.

"Parry offered a plea of not guilty to the commission when he knew that he and Liverpool were guilty. I look forward to seeing Parry and Houllier under cross-examination, and under oath, with others in the High Court."

He added: "Liverpool pursued a strategy to obtain Ziege. The clause did exist because of Christian Ziege's previous experience in Italy and its objective was to protect him and the happiness of his family.

"He told Middlesbrough and the world he was happy. He left because his head was turned by the illegal approach of Liverpool and the promise of greater riches."

No date has been set for the High Court trial. Meanwhile, Boro boss Steve McClaren believes talented young full-back Stuart Parnaby can make a massive name for himself in the Premiership.

The England Under-21 international has already impressed in each of his first five top-flight games for the first team, but McClaren is convinced there is a lot more to come.

Since Parnaby made his League debut against Leeds on October 26 he has gone from strength-to-strength and he is currently keeping his place at right-back. And McClaren said: "Every one of them contributed to a great win, but I thought Stuart was outstanding.

"His performance was full of composure and aggression. He can win the ball, he's got all the ingredients.

"He's played four or five games now and been magnificent in them all. He's shown he has got the temperament to be a good player.

"He's got miles and miles to go to reach his potential but he has got off to a good start."

* Boro teenagers David Knight and David Wheater have been named in the England Under 16s squad for this Friday's Victory Shield match with Scotland.

Knight, a goalkeeper, and Wheater, a defender, have impressed for the club's Academy this season.

Read more about Middlesbrough here.