BIRMINGHAM CITY have made a fresh attempt to strike a deal for Middlesbrough winger Stewart Downing after a frustrating start to the season for the winger.

The 31-year-old was left behind on Saturday when Boro opened the new campaign in the Championship with a defeat at Wolverhampton Wanderers.

Downing is not part of Monk’s plans and he was training with the Under-23s in the build up to Middlesbrough’s trip to Molineux.

Birmingham boss Harry Redknapp has already had discussions with Downing in a bid to take him to St Andrew’s.

But a move didn’t materialise because an agreement couldn’t be reached over the remaining two years of Downing’s contract at the Riverside Stadium.

Middlesbrough are prepared to let him go as a free agent but Birmingham do not feel they can pay him the Premier League wage he is earning at his hometown club.

That stand-off between the three parties has prevented a deal from going ahead, although The Northern Echo understands fresh discussions are set to take place in the hope it will happen.

Downing will be keen to play football again, knowing he will not be able to move on once the transfer window closes at the end of this month.

He has also attracted interest from Girona, while Monk suggested on Friday that the door wouldn’t necessarily be closed to him if a deal didn’t go through.

Downing, though, knows he is not in Monk’s thinking. The Middlesbrough manager has already spent in excess of £45m this summer and he is still looking for another forward/winger plus a defender. Intriguingly Birmingham’s Ryan Shotton is one of the centre-backs he is keen on.

Monk said: “It has been a really positive summer in terms of recruitment and we have tried to get a good balance, we have moved a lot of players out. We had to do that.

“I spoke with the owner before I came, he knew where I wanted to go and the shape I wanted. We have tried to recruit well and get the balance right. We have tried to maximise both ways. We have done the bulk of the work and we have to keep going.

“There is a really good core here, it’s just adding to those ones so we can change the way we play. I wanted it to be dynamic, young, so that’s the image of the club and the team. We have worked incredibly hard. We have brought young players and tried to keep the balance right.”

Middlesbrough have seen a couple of departures, with Gaston Ramirez heading to Sampdoria for £10m.

Queens Park Rangers have signed Alex Baptiste, who used to work with Hoops boss Ian Holloway at Blackpool.

There has been fresh talk of Manchester City interest in Ben Gibson. City are known to have been keeping tabs on him for a number of months, like the rest of the Premier League’s biggest clubs.

Now there are suggestions Manchester City are preparing to test the water with an offer for the 24-year-old.

Having knocked back West Brom’s advances for the centre-back so far, a Manchester City bid could be far more difficult to turn down from both the player and club.

Gibson is happy to be playing for his hometown team but is also aware that during a World Cup year it could be important to be playing at the highest level he can after breaking into the England squad.