HARRY REDKNAPP claims Birmingham City have rejected a Middlesbrough bid for Ryan Shotton, and admits the Blues are struggling to put together a financial package that will enable them to sign Stewart Downing.

Boro’s pre-season preparations continued in a disappointing fashion on Saturday as they crashed to a 2-0 defeat to Rochdale in a game that saw centre-half Ben Gibson suffer a broken nose.

Recent signings Martin Braithwaite and Britt Assombalonga were both involved at Spotland, but despite spending more than £30m already this summer, Boro boss Garry Monk remains keen to make another couple of additions before the start of the Championship season.

He is keen to add some additional defensive cover following the departure of Callum Chambers, who returned to Arsenal at the end of his loan spell, and Bernardo Espinosa and Antonio Barragan, who left Boro permanently earlier this month, and Redknapp claims the Boro boss has tabled a formal offer for Shotton.

A 28-year-old centre-half, Shotton started his career at Stoke City and joined Birmingham from Derby County last summer. He was involved under Redknapp at the end of last season, but has slipped down the St Andrew’s pecking order following the £5m signing of Marc Roberts from Barnsley and is also interesting Hull City.

“We had an offer from Middlesbrough – it didn’t meet our valuation,” said Redknapp. “Everybody we go for is big money, so if Ryan wants to take the opportunity to go to Middlesbrough then we have got to get the right money.”

The Northern Echo:

Redknapp is keen to sign Downing, and held face-to-face talks with the former England international last week in an attempt to engineer a deal.

Downing has been told he is free to discuss a move away from the Riverside, but not having asked to leave, the 33-year-old is adamant he does not want to lose out financially from any move.

That is causing Birmingham problems, as Downing is understood to be one of the highest-paid players on Middlesbrough’s books.

“I would like to bring him (Downing) here, but it’s difficult,” said Redknapp. “It just depends. He is one of a list of maybe five players I have in mind. I think we need to strengthen the squad.

“Stewart’s not unreasonable. He’s a free agent, he’s a fantastic signing. He would give us a lovely balance, a lovely left foot. I think he is a class player, but I need to speak to the people at Middlesbrough and see what the situation is.

“Last year he was on Premier League wages at Middlesbrough, so we will have to do a deal somewhere. It’s difficult for us to pay Premier League wages, but I would like to bring him.”

Further discussions are planned for this week, although Downing is also the subject of interest from clubs in Spain and the United States.

The Northern Echo:

Boro played their penultimate pre-season game at the weekend, and Monk admits he was disappointed by his side’s performance at Rochdale.

The Teessiders fell behind when Daniel Ayala headed a free-kick into his own net at the start of the second half, and Rochdale doubled their lead with three minutes left when Oliver Rathbone slotted a slick finish past Connor Ripley.

Braithwaite played the full 90 minutes, while Assombalonga came on for the second half, and although pre-season results count for nothing once the real action begins, Monk admits he was disappointed by his side’s lacklustre display.

“There were glimpses of what we want to do, but as a performance, it wasn’t good enough,” said Monk. “I think it was an application thing, rather than the actual football. It was an application thing, which you can never have, and I’ve made that clear to the players from day one.

“We have to give 100 per cent on the pitch, and today wasn’t good enough, but it’s still early days and there’s still a lot of work to do. It’s very easy to read into results in pre-season, but right now it’s about how we’re trying to mould the squad and the team.”

Gibson was forced off after an accidental collision within the opening quarter-of-an-hour, but should be available for the opening Championship game against Wolves in just under a fortnight’s game.

“It’s a broken nose for Ben,” said Monk. “That doesn’t help in the first few minutes of the game. Ben’s obviously a good leader, and it would have been important minutes for him on the pitch. We’ll speak to the medical team and see how that is over the coming day or so. We were disappointed to have lost him so early on.”

Middlesbrough: Ripley; Roberts, Ayala, Gibson (Fry 14), Fabio (Friend 46); Traore (Soisalo 74), de Roon, Clayton, Tavernier (Chapman 58); Braithwaite, Gestede (Assombalonga 46).