BORUSSIA DORTMUND are keen to sell Neven Subotic in January’s transfer window – and will contact Middlesbrough in an attempt to rekindle the proposed deal that collapsed in the summer.

Subotic was on the verge of completing a €10m move to Teesside in the close season, only for Boro to pull out of the transfer when problems were detected during the centre-half’s medical.

Subotic returned to Dortmund to undergo rib surgery, and having missed the opening three months of the season, the Serbia international returned to action for his Bundesliga club’s Under-23s team last week.

In an interview after the game, he indicated a willingness to discuss a new move to Middlesbrough provided he is able to prove his fitness over the next few weeks.

Having agreed to his departure in the summer, Borussia Dortmund officials are also hoping to push through a new deal when the transfer window reopens at the turn of the year.

Boro boss Aitor Karanka is a known admirer of Subotic, and had hoped to make the 27-year-old the centre-piece of his back four when he made his initial move for his services at the start of the summer.

That did not happen after Subotic failed his medical, and in the intervening three months, Calum Chambers has established himself at the heart of Boro’s backline.

However, Chambers is only on a season-long loan from Arsenal, and whenever he has been asked about the likelihood of that deal becoming a permanent transfer, Karanka has shied away from the issue.

Arsene Wenger has hinted he is reluctant to lose Chambers permanently, and if the Boro hierarchy conclude they are unlikely to be able to sign the England Under-21 international, they may also decide that Subotic is the best alternative.

Daniel Ayala’s position could also influence their thinking, with the Spaniard having seemingly fallen out of favour as he continues to struggle with a long-standing ankle problem.

Karanka has expressed his frustration at Ayala’s ongoing injury issues on a number of occasions this season, and while Bernardo Espinosa is currently providing defensive cover on the substitutes’ bench, Boro are hardly blessed with an abundance of central defensive options if Ayala is removed from the equation.

Signing Subotic would address that issue, although the Dortmund defender’s recent surgery means the Teessiders would almost certainly seek a significant reduction to the €10m fee that was agreed in the summer.

If nothing else, changes to the exchange rate mean they would have to pay around £2m more today than they had intended to spend in the summer if the €10m price tag remained unchanged.