MIDDLESBROUGH are hoping to sign Afonso Alves within the next 48 hours after a Dutch FA tribunal last night ruled that the Heerenveen striker had not signed a legally binding contract with AZ Alkmaar.

After a week of intensive legal discussions, the Dutch authorities have ruled that Heerenveen are free to sell Alves to whoever they choose, giving Boro the green light to begin formal transfer negotiations.

With Alves having already agreed personal terms with the Teessiders following a guided tour of the Riverside ten days ago, Boro boss Gareth Southgate is keen to complete the deal in time for next week's home game with Wigan Athletic.

But with Heerenveen hoping to receive more than the 15m Euros (£11.2m) fee Alkmaar had agreed to pay for the 26-year-old, chairman Steve Gibson will have to smash his club's current transfer record to secure Alves' services.

And after Heerenveen shelled out a significant sum to fight this month's legal battle, Boro could be forced to pay more than £12m to land their number one transfer target.

Alves scored 49 goals in 49 games last season to become the leading scorer in Dutch football, and is respected as one of the most prolific marksmen in the European game.

He would need to secure a work permit before he was permitted to play in the Premier League, something that is hardly guaranteed given a tally of just eight senior international caps for Brazil.

But while Boro's initial application to the Home Office would almost certainly fail, club officials are confident of winning an appeal.

They were successful in one tribunal yesterday, with the Dutch FA finally throwing out Alkmaar's application for sole contractual rights over Alves, a player who played for Swedish sides Orgryte and Malmo before moving to Heerenveen in June 2006.

Alkmaar officials had claimed that a pre-contract agreement signed by Alves effectively bound the striker to them, but Heerenveen had argued that the agreement was meaningless as it had not been signed by their officials and a transfer had not been lodged with the Dutch FA.

An earlier FA hearing ruled that Alves was the subject of two binding contracts, but yesterday's hearing declared that the pre-contract agreement with Alkmaar was null and void.

A statement on the Dutch FA website said: "The arbitrary committee of the KNVB (Dutch FA) has rejected the claims of AZ. AZ wanted the arbitration board to force Heerenveen to work on the transfer of Afonso Alves from Heerenveen to AZ.

"AZ also argued that Heerenveen should be forbidden from co-operating in the transfer of Alves to another club.

"The arbitration is of the opinion that the transfer agreement does not comply with the agreed terms, and has been dropped. Heerenveen, therefore, is no longer held to the obligations described in the transfer agreement."

Alves has already spoken of his desire to join Middlesbrough, and Boro officials are expected to begin formal negotiations with their Heerenveen counterparts later this morning.

The Teessiders also retain an interest in Alves' fellow Brazilian, Fred, although Tottenham remain favourites to sign the Paris St Germain centre-forward.

The need for a proven goalscorer was underlined by last weekend's 1-1 draw with Blackburn, a game that saw Middlesbrough pass up numerous opportunities to secure a two-goal lead before Matt Derbyshire grabbed a surprise equaliser.

Stewart Downing is Boro's leading scorer this season with just five goals, and neither Jeremie Aliadiere nor Tuncay Sanli boast the kind of scoring instinct that has made Alves such a potent force in Holland.

Mido is the nearest thing Boro have to a traditional centre-forward, and the Egypt international ended a three-month injury lay-off with a 45-minute outing in Tuesday night's reserve-team defeat to Newcastle.

Southgate, however, is reluctant to hand the African a starting spot in Saturday's FA Cup fourth-round tie at Mansfield.