MATT Crooks is understood to be close to sealing a move to Middlesbrough from League One side Rotherham United. 

Sources suggest the 27-year-old midfielder has been in talks with Boro recently and it's understood to have gone well with the possibility of a deal taking place in a matter of days. 

Crooks is on his way out of the Millers and is ready to link up with the Boro squad but he is not expected to join them at their training camp in Cornwall with the understanding that it could take longer than this week to be completed. 

Crooks is still contracted at Rotherham but there's been no suggestion of what type of fee might have been involved. 

He made 42 appearances for the Millers last season and scored seven goals in the process including a memorable strike from distance against Boro at the Riverside Stadium back in January.

He's played 91 times for the Millers in total and has found the net on 21 occasions since signing for them back in 2019. 

Crooks started his career with Huddersfield Town where he had a spell on loan with Hartlepool United for a month in 2014. He then moved to Accrington Stanley in search of regular first-team football. After impressing there, Rangers came calling in 2016 but it failed to work out as he spent the second half of his first season with them on loan at Scunthorpe United. 

A permanent switch to Northampton materlialised in 2017. 51 league appearances and nine goals later, Rotherham United secured his services as they looked to mount a promotion push to the Championship, which they succeeded in doing after the season ended early and the league table was decided on points per game due to the pandemic. 

Rotherham United failed to survive the drop to League One last season and a move to Boro would give Crooks the chance at first-team football once again in the Championship. 

The two teams meet in a pre-seaon friendly on Friday 30th July at the New York Stadium, the weekend before the start of Boro's league opening game against Fulham

Crook joining the club would add to Neil Warnock's options in midfield but he may well prove to be an adequate replacement for George Saville, who completed a move back to Millwall. 

Midfielder Martin Payero, who has completed his medical with the club, is still expected to join the club after competing in the Olympics with Argentina.