MIDDLESBROUGH would not welcome any approach from Aston Villa for assistant manager Steve Agnew.

Steve Bruce is on the look-out for a right-hand man after taking over at Villa Park this week and Boro’s No 2 is among the names under consideration.

Bruce has already returned to Hull City for first team coach Stephen Clemence and the pair worked together with Agnew at the KC Stadium.

But Middlesbrough do not want to lose the 50-year-old and are in a position of strength because he signed a five-year deal when he moved to the Riverside Stadium in December 2014.

At that time Agnew’s reasoning was centred on returning to the North-East to work, where he had also had an earlier spell with Middlesbrough and Hartlepool United on the coaching front.

There has not been an approach so far from Aston Villa for Agnew and Middlesbrough are not expecting one, although Bruce is a huge admirer and never wanted to lose him when he was at Hull.

Bruce, who had him at Hull for two years before his exit, said at the time: “Steve Agnew came to see me last Friday and said he’d had an unbelievable offer to go back to Middlesbrough. I gave him the Sunday and the Monday to think about it.

“Because it was such a wonderful offer I couldn’t stand in the lad’s road. Financially and security-wise it blew what we were paying him out of the water.

“Steve Gibson (Middlesbrough chairman) thinks a lot of him, like I do. Sometimes you have to shake him by the hand and stay, ‘Well done, Steve.’ Five years for managers or coaches? I said was there any chance of getting a contract like that for me!”

Financially it could also be a problem for Aston Villa, which is why Bruce is believed to have other names under consideration. He could even decide to retain the services of Steve Clarke, who was Roberto di Matteo’s assistant before he was sacked, while Clemence is not expected to be installed as the No 2.

Mike Phelan was his assistant at Hull after Agnew’s departure but he has been chasing the manager’s position on Humberside this season so Bruce is looking elsewhere.

Head coach Aitor Karanka is due to have Agnew alongside him again when Middlesbrough face Watford on Sunday.

Karanka has arrived back on Teesside after taking charge of ‘Team Ronaldinho’ at Rome’s Stadio Olimpico.

He was up against a ‘Maradona Team’ led by Fabio Capello in a special ‘United for Peace’ charity match as part of Pope Francis’ Holy Year of Mercy, where a group of Italian organisations teamed up to organise the event.

More than 10,000 fans watched the game and Karanka’s team - which included the likes of Ronaldinho, Juan Veron, Hernan Crespo and Edgar Davids - won 4-3.