STEWART DOWNING admits the lure of helping his hometown club back into the Premier League was the key factor behind his decision to reject a host of alternative offers in order to rejoin Middlesbrough.

Downing has embarked on his second spell with Boro after completing a £5m move from West Ham, but whereas he left a club firmly established in the top-flight when he exited Teesside to join Aston Villa in 2009, he has rejoined a side scrapping to clamber out of the second tier.

Some might claim his decision to drop down a division is evidence of a lack of ambition, but Downing views his move is a markedly different light.

The Northern Echo:

The 31-year-old is delighted to have returned to his roots, and regards a possible promotion with Boro as the perfect way to cap his career.

Downing said: “The pull was obviously coming back to my hometown club and the plans the chairman has for the club – the players he's bringing in, I won't say who they are, but some good players are coming in.

“I think there's a really good chance of promotion and I want to be a part of it.

“For me, I just see this as having something to play for. I see a good team and a promotion push, and the other offers I had weren't really better than West Ham, to be honest.

“Were they going to be fighting relegation, were they going to be in mid-table with nothing to play for?

“I just thought at 31 – 21 is a different conversation – but at 31 I wanted something to play for, something to get me going and this was the best offer I had.”

However, even though the opportunity to return to Teesside after a two-year spell in London was a powerful attraction, Downing insists he would not have rejoined Boro if he did not believe they had a realistic chance of promotion.

He said: “If this was a team in mid-table or fighting relegation then it wouldn't be good for me to come back, but this is a Premier League club. The players were very unlucky last season not to get promoted.

“The manager said,  ‘If I can keep most of the squad together and add the players I'm looking to get in, we're going for automatic promotion, not the play-offs, not anywhere around that, it's got to be automatic promotion'.

“That's what he's drumming into the players and I've got to believe it can happen.”

The Northern Echo:

Sunderland also made a push to sign Downing, but while the midfielder was aware of the interest from the Stadium of Light, he insists there was only ever going to be one outcome once Boro came calling.

He said: “Sunderland were the first club to come in for me and make the offer to West Ham. But once I heard from Boro and spoke to Steve Gibson, that faded away.

“He's quite a persuasive man is Steve Gibson, when you speak to him. No disrespect to Sunderland, they are a great football club, I went there on loan and had a good time, but there was only one place I wanted to come.”