AITOR KARANKA insists he does not have an axe to grind with Ryan Fredericks as the Bristol City defender prepares to return to Teesside for the first time since turning down a permanent move to Middlesbrough.

As Boro explore ways to further strengthen the squad before the transfer window closes a week on Tuesday, Fredericks will be back at the Riverside Stadium tomorrow as a City player.

The 22-year-old rejected the advances of Karanka to take him back to Middlesbrough, where he spent last season on loan from Tottenham, by instead deciding to make a permanent move to Ashton Gate for an undisclosed fee.

The Robins have lofty ambitions, highlighted by unsuccessful £9m moves for Dwight Gayle and Andre Gray this month, but Boro are more fancied to push for promotion to the Premier League.

But Fredericks was not satisfied that he only started 16 times in the Championship when he moved to the North-East on a season-long loan. He made his mind up that heading back was never going to be in his thinking.

Karanka does not hold a grudge, though. The Spanish head coach said: “I can understand 100 per cent because I want to be honest with the players and them to be honest with me.

“Ryan Fredericks last season thought that for him it would be better to go to (Bristol City) and for that reason he's not my opponent or my enemy, he's also not my friend, but I wish him all the best as he's a very good lad and played well with us.

“I am pleased because to replace him we brought in Alex Baptiste. He got injured so it was a problem, but after Alex and Tomas Kalas came, then Jack Stephens, and Emilio (Nsue) is playing really well. We don't have problems in that position now, so it's no problem.

“It would have been a problem if we hadn't known two or three weeks before (the transfer window), but last season we knew he wanted to go to another place so it was no problem.

“Bristol City can offer him some things that I couldn't offer him, so it's not a problem for me. Always with players, with (Lee Tomlin) for example, I'm always wishing all the best to all of them as they played with me and did their best for me.”

Fredericks’ decision to head for the west country was the first setback Karanka had in his summer of restructuring. It has not all been plain sailing in terms of targets, but he has had more success than failure.

He still hopes for further new additions, although Nottingham Forest are standing their ground as they attempt to hold on to £6m-rated Michael Antonio amid interest from Boro, Derby County and West Brom.

All three clubs have been in contact with City Ground officials and Mustapha Carayol has been mentioned as a possible makeweight in the deal.

Karanka said: “No (I won’t say anything) because everybody was speaking a lot about our link with Jordan Rhodes without doing nothing - and everyone thought we had spent £12m.

“He is not here so I prefer not to speak about Antonio, and I don't want to hear again that 'Middlesbrough are signing Rhodes' or 'Middlesbrough are signing Antonio' when he is not here.

“We are working (on targets) but I've said that if the transfer window closes tomorrow, I'm really pleased with the squad. If some players arrive before the window finishes, I'll be happy as they will be players who want to be here and who I want here. Let's see what happens until September 1.”

As well as the extra winger and a midfielder, Karanka is searching for a new goalkeeper and AC Milan’s Michael Agazzi was thought to be top of the list following Shay Given’s decision to opt for Stoke City instead of Teesside. A reluctance to agree a switch, though, has left Boro in no rush to find further competition for Dimi Konstantopoulos and Tomas Mejias.

Karanka said: “We are looking for a goalkeeper but if the goalkeeper arrives before the transfer market (shuts) then great, if not we've got Dimi and Tomas and I trust them. If someone is coming it's because we want him and he wants to come here. We're not going to bring in a player that we're not fully convinced that he's ready or a good thing to come here.”

Karanka, who revealed Jonathan Woodgate is fit again after hamstring trouble, reported no new injury problems. He did hint that he could make changes though to freshen his side up.