Juninho is on the verge of joining Middlesbrough for a third time after the club revealed they had agreed terms with the player during talks in Madrid last night.

Boro boss Steve McClaren cut short his trip with his squad at a training base in Austria in a bid to tie up a deal for the Brazilian, who will join the Teessiders subject to a medical and obtaining a work permit from the DOE.

Juninho had declined Boro's original offer after Atletico Madrid had accepted a bid, believed to be around £6m at the start of the month but now it seems an improved package for the 28-year-old has swayed the World Cup winner in to returning to the north-east for a third time.

The player has reportedly agreed a four-year deal with the club.

Having already sealed a season-long loan deal for Cameroon star Geremi and £8m club record signing Massimo Maccarone, McClaren is still hopeful of bringing in more new faces with Aston Villa's George Boeteng at the top of his wanted list.

Meanwhile, Jepser Blomqvist's hopes of a move to the Riverside were slightly dented last night as he was replaced at half-time with ligament damage in the 2-2 draw with Udinese.

The Swede, who impressed in the opening exchanges and delivered a nice cross for Noel Whelan to head in the second, was on on the receiving end of a bad tackle - it is unknown how serious the damage is.

Whelan's goal followed a Gareth Southgate header mid-way through the first half.

But after assistant manager Bill Beswick rang the changes, Udinese hit back with two second half goals.

Beswick said: "It was a very valuable exercise and we are delighted with Massimo Maccarone's performance.

"Mark Schwarzer also made some fine saves and had a good game."

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