NEIL WARNOCK has had to accept he will not be making any early-January transfers at Middlesbrough.

As well as trying to tie up Duncan Watmore’s contract position, Warnock has also spent the last few days attempting to line up potential January deals.

However, his hopes of pushing through something in the first few days of the transfer window have disappeared, and he is increasingly resigned to another last-minute dash at the end of the month as he looks to strengthen the wide-attacking positions in his squad.

“I’d imagine it will be around three o’clock on the 31st,” chuckled a rueful Warnock, who continues to target Everton's Yannick Bolasie. “That doesn’t make things any easier, does it, but it’s what will be, will be, I’m afraid.

“It’s like everything else in the world today, everyone wants to get a better deal.

"From all parties – players, clubs. Neil (Bausor) is trying to do the best for our club, you’ve got chief executives at other clubs trying to do the best for them, and then you’ve got agents trying to do the best for themselves too.

"The players usually end up at the bottom of the list.

“We’re quite optimistic that something will happen. We’ve had a couple more players put to us this week which hadn’t been thought about.

"Things will change all the time, but if the right one comes along, you have to try to snap it.

"Although with a young player for the Premier League, you've probably got five or six clubs from the Championship chasing the same player.

"So then, you've got to hope that they see Middlesbrough as the right way for them to further their career.

"That's all you can do because you are really all fighting for similar players in that age group."