AITOR KARANKA has revealed how Middlesbrough’s latest signing arrived after a chase dating back to when he first took over as head coach.

The Spaniard, who replaced Tony Mowbray in November 2013, landed his second summer recruit this week when he confirmed Sporting Gijon’s Bernardo Espinosa will move to the Riverside next month as a free agent.

Everything has been agreed for the Colombian to join the Premier League new-boys and the 26-year-old has followed Danish winger Viktor Fischer in moving to Teesside.

And Karanka, whose head of recruitment Victor Orta is scouring the continent looking for new players, has revealed Espinosa has been on his radar for a while.

“I’m really pleased,” said Karanka. “We have signed a really good player.

“We’ve followed him for the last two years and he will be a good player for us in this league because he’s a strong central defender. Like the other players before him, he is also a really good lad.”

Karanka, a former assistant at Real Madrid and coach with the Spanish youth teams, admired Espinosa during his time playing with Sevilla before he moved to Sporting Gijon.

He helped Sporting to promotion last season and they wanted him to stay but he wanted to take on a fresh challenge at Boro, where he has signed a three-year deal.

Karanka has been linked with a £5m move for Sunderland’s Lee Cattermole, but the player has five years remaining on his contract.

Sam Allardyce, the Black Cats boss, is keen to keep the centre-midfielder and he would certainly not be willing to let him go for that sort of figure.

Middlesbrough, who have already been linked with a move for Cattermole’s former Boro team-mate James Morrison, are currently concentrating more on the European scene, where they believe there is better value for money.